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IDEATYPICS ; 

OR, AN 

ART OF MEMORY. 






“lie who has a memory that can seize with an iron grasp and retain 
what he reads — the ideas simply, without the language—and judgment 
to compare and balance, will scarcely fail of being distinguished. Many 
are afraid of strengthening the memory, lest it should destroy their in¬ 
ducement and power to originate ideas—lest the light should be altogether 
borrowed light. The danger does not seem to me to be very great, espe¬ 
cially since I have noticed that those who are so fearful of employing this 
faculty are by no means to be envied for their originality.”— Todd's Stu¬ 


dent's Manual . 


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LONDON: 

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P R E F ACE. 


In the publication of this Work, I am desirous of 
making known certain principles of very old date ; 
also the System I have wrought out of these ma¬ 
terials, calculated to lead to surprising results in its 
application. It would only be deemed empiricism 
if instances were detailed. One instance, however, 
may be given. A boy was allotted forty figures to 
get by memory; he readily complied with the 
wishes of his preceptor, and acquired them per¬ 
fectly, On the second morning following, he was 
unable to say three figures successively: he was 
then set to the task of acquiring one thousand 
figures, in the same time, by Ideatypics; and it 
was done so effectually that any figure could be 
adverted to with facility. The impression becomes 
stronger with time, even without repetition, except 
that which arises from mental spontaneity, or by 
way of exercise. 



IV 


PREFACE. 


The learned, in every age, as it is recorded in 
numerous instances, assisted the powers of their 
mind by certain contrivances, based upon princi¬ 
ples of acknowledged value. The desire of being 
useful in their day and generation, induced some 
to publish their systems. These aids, however, 
have been more or less efficacious to others, ac¬ 
cording to the particular genius, mental character 
or condition of those ivho employed them. This 
circumstance has led me to seek after general 
principles, and to diversify their application, that 
they might be understood. The highest flight of 
genius, and the weakest mental act of the simplest 
child of nature, are not, according to Hazlett, so 
far removed from each other as men suppose. Yet 
let no one think that I am about to set the intel¬ 
lectual and the imbecile on the same footing of 
ability by the mere cultivation of the memory .— 
There will be mediocrity and two wide extremes 
in every popular mental progress. In this Work, 
I propose the means of improving the retentive 
condition of mind, but it is in connection with 
the Discipline of Education, and the maturity of 
the judgment in that process. 

The examples and the exercises are designed to 
help the understanding and assist the recollection, 
but not to supply deficient powers of thought. 

The principles help not only to associate facts 


PREFACE. 


V 


and data , but, what a Professor of eminence lately 
said would be a desideratum, it helps to associate 
the various political and moral changes, and the 
more remote causes and effects detailed in History; 
also the abstractions of metaphysical reasoning. 
In short, as an Educator, I have endeavoured to 
treat the subject in its bearing upon general Edu¬ 
cation. The importance of the subject, and its 
peculiar mode of treatment, as well as the desire 
to advance others, must be my apology for send¬ 
ing this Work to press. 

In a few instances, there is an introduction of 
comic associations; but it has been my object, as 
much as possible, to exclude technicalities, non¬ 
sense, and false exercises. In the examples, I have 
attempted to supply information on subjects that 
could not be treated of more at length in this 
Work. In these and the exercises, I have applied 
the principles to Systematic Tables, Geography, 
History, Chronology, Languages, Natural His¬ 
tory, Botany, Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry, 
Logarithms, Latitudes and Longitudes, Weights 
and Measures, Specific Gravities, etc. etc. There 
are many other things that might be thought use¬ 
ful, that could not be introduced for want of room. 

In applying the System to any subject not 
adverted to, the reader will generally find some 
analogous subject to direct him. 




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TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. Memory defined—Ideatypics—applica¬ 
tion of the name—leading features of the System—topical 
system of Simonides—Mnemonics of the Ancients—histo¬ 
rical notices of various systems. 


Chap. I. IDEATYPIC PRINCIPLES. 

The cultivation of the memory implied in Education.. 10 
The passing from “j the abstract to the concrete ” ...11 

Its connection with our mental constitution .12 

The fagging system subversive of important laws ... .14 
The necessity of an acquaintance with mental faculties 

and their objects.15 

The Media of Perception—primitive powers — Lan¬ 
guage the servant of these, &c.16 

The group of feelings that belongs to Human Nature..17 

The reflective faculties. 17 

The states, conditions, and modes of operation of the 
mind : 1. Attention—2. Perception—3. Association 
—4. Judgment—5. Memory .17 


Chap. II. ASSOCIATION— general. 

The difference of mental power .20 

Its illustration. 20 

The business of an Educator as an Ideatyper.22 

The general tendency to search for types.23 

Alphabets, or Ideatyped sounds .24 

The general principle of Ideatyping sanctioned by long- 

usage (Vide also Appendix A) .24 

The principle requires regulation.25 

The resemblance of the first Alphabets to things.26 


Ciiat. III. ASSOCIATION —particular. 

Recognition of the principle by writers .27 

Transfer .27 

„ illustrated.28 

Ideas associated with local points.28 

An objection to Mnemonics.29 

Three kinds of memory . 30 

1. The association of the known idea with the known in 

three cases .32 

Examples—scriptile, direct, compound .32 

Exercises on numerous subjects .35 

2. The association of the known with the unknown in 

five cases .36 

Examples—History .39 

„ Chronology .40 

„ Language, &c.46 

Exercises in History, Grammar, &c.45 

„ on the five cases.53 































TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


viii 


PAGE 


Intermediate ideas—Examples . 54 

Transposition of letters. 55 

Literal and numeral symbols . 55 

Alphabets .•.•.56 

Ancient notices of Association, Proximity, &c.57 

Revocation. 59 

Chap. IV. LOCALITY. 

The Medallists.60 

Ancient division of a Avail .. 62 

Various divisions into compartments .63 

A new division of a room (Vide also Appendix B) .. 64 

Table of Localities.68 

Exercises .70 


Chap. V. NATURAL POINTS OF LOCALITY. 

Its application to History and Chronology .72 

Chap. VI. NUMBER. 

Substitution of letters for figures . 76 

Analogical association of sounds. 77 

Numeral scale (Vide PI. II., also Appendix C).... 77 

The Ideatyphonicon .81 

Its various applications. 81 

Real exercises to be sought, and the false avoided .. 85 

Numerous Examples.86 

„ Exercises.88 

Chap. VII. APPLICATION of the PRINCIPLES to 
the LEARNING of a LANGUAGE. 

Declensions of Latin nouns. 91 

Genders 91 

Conjugations of Latin verbs . 95 


Chap. VIII. GEOGRAPHY. 

General Geography.100 

The Geographicon .102 

Particular Geography, and application.104 

Chap. IX. PROSE and POETRY. 

Dugald Stuart’s notices of Locality in connection 

with Prose .108 

Poetry..109 

Examples, &c.110 

Chap. X. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES of the 

KINGS of ENGLAND.113 

Chap. XI. TABLES. 

Avoirdupois & Troy Weight—Wool Weight—Square 
Measure—Cubic Inches in Liquid Measures, &c...118 
Latitudes and Longitudes .121 

CONCLUSION. 

General hints to the student .123 


APPENDIX. 
References, see above. 


126 

































INTRODUCTION. 


Memory has been well defined by Dugald Stuart 
as That faculty which enables us to treasure up 
and preserve, for future use, the knowledge we 
acquire; a faculty, (he adds,) which is obviously 
the great foundation of all intellectual improve¬ 
ment, and, without which, no advantage could be 
derived from the most enlarged experience/ Any 
remarks of mine may be spared on the value of 
this most necessary and excellent condition of 
mind, when individuals the most gifted and favor¬ 
ed by nature speak of the inutility of all labour in 
wisdom and knowledge, if there be no memory to 
preserve and use that which is acquired. Dr. Watts 
says, * There can be neither knowledge, nor arts, 
nor sciences, without memory; nor can there be 
any improvement of mankind in virtue or morals, 
or the practise of religion, without the assistance 
and influence of this power/ There are some, 
however, as Locke has observed, that retain the 


B 


2 


INTRODUCTION. 


characters drawn on them like marble, others like 
freestone, others little better than sand. It be¬ 
comes, then, an important enquiry, in what way 
we can best assist the imperfect operations of the 
mind; for in no other light do I regard a deficient 
memory than as a result of improperly regulated 
faculties. Of course, I mean cateris paribus — 
other things being equal or the same,—because 
the constitution of our bodies, our organization 
and temperament, are closely connected with men¬ 
tal action, and produce marked differences, even 
where there is no marked difference of absolute 
mental capacity. In this matter, as well as in 
every thing else, we naturally revert to the sayings 
and doings of our forefathers, however we may be 
inclined to make innovation upon those things 
which they have left us. However disposed we 
may be, also, under the influence of right reason, 
to award the palm of great pre-eminence to the 
moderns in almost every department of human 
knowledge, we must, nevertheless, acknowledge, 
there was something extraordinary in the contriv¬ 
ances and results of the mnemonic systems of the 
ancients, and their local memory. 

The foundation of all contrivances which have 
been, or, perhaps, can be employed to help recol¬ 
lection, is to be traced to the principle of the 
scheme of Simonides. It is the basis of this which 


INTRODUCTION. 


3 


I have designated cc Ideatypics” a term which has 
been considered peculiarly appropriate by persons 
on whose judgment I can rely, and who were 
made acquainted with the principle to which the 
term was applied by me in the summer of 1843. 

The leading feature of the whole system detailed 
in this Work is, to transfer a train of ideas whose 
archetypes are not the objects of sense, and are 
therefore of difficult recollection, to another train 
which we cannot fail to recollect; because the 
archetypes are not only objects of sense, but ob¬ 
jects of sight, which may be placed actually before 
our eyes, as things with which we are perfectly 
familiar. 

Simonides, so justly celebrated by Cicero and 
Quintilian, is represented as taking a house, or 
any other suitable building, in which he might 
deliver a discourse, and, with every part of which 
he was supposed to be perfectly familiar, then, 
beginning at some fixed point, he would proceed 
round it in a circular line, till he arrived at the 
point at which he set out. He would divide the 
circumference of the house as he perceived the 
subject required it, taking different compartments 
for different topics, using distinctive symbols, and 
introducing therein external objects: e.g. he would 
take a ship, as a symbol for naval affairs. He 
would take the symbol of some current coin, and 


4 


INTRODUCTION. 


actually transfer, or imagine it to be transferred, 
to some compartment of the building, when he 
was desirous of recalling financial subjects to re¬ 
collection. In all instances, he would produce in 
his mind an hieroglyphical painting of the sense 
of any subject, which might always be referred to 
when mentally deposited in some well-known spot. 

What we know of the Mnemonics of the ancient 
Greeks, is comprised in a small compass. They 
gave the outline, however, for the moderns to 
fill up. The Romans, as well as the Greeks, stu¬ 
died it with pleasure and success; and many of 
their feats of memory are recorded. Julius Caesar 
was an adept in the art; and Seneca, the philoso¬ 
pher, was well versed in it; he could repeat 2,000 
names in the exact order in which they were re¬ 
hearsed to him. It is said that Cicero, as well as 
Seneca, never heard any thing material but it was 
imprinted on their memory. Quintilian speaks of 
the topical memory of the ancients, and the assist¬ 
ance derived from the walls of a city, a well-known 
road, or any convenient site, for placing objects. 
He speaks also of a pretended improvement, which 
he rejected as trifling, in which the words of a 
discourse were comprehended by constructing 
symbols for each of them, and referring them se¬ 
verally to compartments. 

All the mnemonical systems that have been 


INTRODUCTION. 


5 


promulgated during the last 500 years, have been 
derived from the celebrated topical memory of the 
ancients. The Germans, perhaps, more than any 
other nation, have availed themselves of the ad¬ 
vantages presented to them in the cultivation of 
the art of Memory. To this we may, in a great 
measure, attribute the circumstance of their being 
so long considered great authorities in Ancient 
Literature and the Arts. In the fifteenth, six¬ 
teenth, and seventeenth centuries, various conti¬ 
nental writers successively published systems of 
local and symbolical Memory. In 1236, Raymond 
Lully, called the illuminated Doctor, brought the 
Art of Memory into notice, after the lapse of ages. 
The learned gave it the name of the transcendental 
art. Then we have Peter of Cologne and Peter 
of Ravenna, both distinguished by their respective 
systems. In the year 1533, appeared the “ Con - 
gestorium Artificiosa Memories” of Romberch, in 
which, with many improvements, the various sys¬ 
tems previously published were enumerated and 
detailed. England was not without her share in 
the honor, when William Fulwood translated Gra- 
taroli^s work, under the title of the “ Castel of 

Memorie” _This was afterwards translated into 

French. 

I think I may justly attribute the extraordinary 
attainments of many of the learned in the sixteenth 


6 


INTRODUCTION. 


and seventeenth centuries to an art of Memoiy. 
As early, however, as the fourteenth century, we 
read of Englishmen distinguished by attempts to 
work into system the topical memory of the an¬ 
cients. 

No. 3744 in the Sloane Collection, preserved in 
the British Museum, is the (e Ars Memorativa” of 
Thomas Bradwardine, called the profound Doctor, 
who was Proctor of Merton College, Oxford, 1325. 
At the time when this work was produced, learn¬ 
ing was, comparatively, little in advance in Eng¬ 
land. We find, in later times, many distinguished 
professors of the art at Oxford and Cambridge— 
men who were said to be profound in their attain¬ 
ments, and who were regarded, on this account, 
with a sort of superstitious reverence. 

Many mnemonical essays were published on the 
Continent in the 1 7th century, by Azevedo, Cui- 
rot, Belot, and others whose names are not known. 

In 1651, Henry Herdson, professor by public 
authority in the University of Cambridge, pub¬ 
lished his “ Ars Mnemonica sive Herdsonus , 
Bruxiatus , etc.” in Latin and English; but this 
was principally copied from Brux’s Simonides 
redivivus. 

From the year 1715, when Erhardt and Feyjoo 
published their respective systems, to the end of 
the 18 th century, Mnemonics did not excite much 


INTRODUCTION. 


7 


attention, through various circumstances. In 
1806; in the Philosophical Magazine, some notice 
was taken of a new branch of science, studied in 
Germany, called by the ancients Mnemonica , or 
the Art of Memory. The following were remarks 
made upon it:—“We find in Herodotus, that it 
was carefully taught and practised in Egypt, 
whence it was brought into Greece. This histo¬ 
rian attributes the invention of it to Simonides; 
but his opinion is refuted in a dissertation pub¬ 
lished by M. Mongerstern of Dorpat, upon Mne¬ 
monica. He there asserts that this science is more 
intimately connected with the Egyptian Hiero¬ 
glyphics than is generally supposed, and this con¬ 
nection may help to explain them. However the 
case may be, this singular, but so long neglected 
art, has re-appeared in Germany with some eclat.” 

There is also mention made of a promise being 
exacted from the pupils not to write down the 
lectures of those who taught it. The account here 
given, seems to be in reference to M. Gregor Von 
Feinagle, a native of Baden, who visited Paris 
about this time, and delivered lectures on his 
“ New System of Mnemonics and Methods” This 
system, although it was open to great improve¬ 
ments, was nevertheless applicable to every branch 
of science—easy to be learned, and adapted to all 
ages and sexes. The Count of Metternich and 


8 


INTRODUCTION. 


his secretaries followed the whole course, and gave 
their testimony to the value of it. The learned 
spoke of its capabilities and its promise, while 
many of the public journals spoke injuriously of 
it, and, with much that was plausible, misled the 
public; but this arose from the ignorance or ve¬ 
nality of some of the journalists, who frequently 
applaud or condemn as it best serves their interest. 

A writer in the Monthly Magazine, vol. xxiv. 
page 105, records experiments on the power of 
association,—first, with the several parts of his 
ow n house, then wdth other permanent and fami¬ 
liar classes of objects. He says, “ I was myself 
educated in the vicinity of Oxford Street; and 
the streets running out of that street south and 
north, I made use of for my own purpose of suc¬ 
cessive association. The greater the variety of 
ideas connected with this set of objects, which 
may be called the associative key, the more easy 
and the more certain is the pow er of recollection.” 
He adds, further, “ If I do not hazard a charge of 
egotism, I shall mention, as illustrative facts, that, 
by this new art, I once committed to memory, in 
a single morning, the whole of the propositions 
contained in the three first books of Euclid, and 
with such perfection, that I could, for years after¬ 
wards, specify the number of the book on hearing 
the proposition named, and could recite the pro- 


INTRODUCTION. 


9 


position on hearing the number and the book; and 
I have, frequently, in mixed companies, repeated 
backwards and forwards, from fifty to a hundred 
unconnected words which have been but once 
called over to me. I may also add, to prove the 
simplicity of the plan, that I taught two of my 
own children to repeat 50 unconnected words in 
a first lesson of not more than half an hour’s con¬ 
tinuance.” 

Feinagle’s public experiment in England is re¬ 
corded in the Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. lxxxi. 
part 1. and in the Morning Post of April 18, 1812. 

In the London Encyclopaedia, we have a curious 
notice of Todd’s system; but this and all mnemo- 
nical publications to the present time, except those 
of Grey and Low*e, (who substituted letters for 
figures) seem to be modifications of the same sys¬ 
tem ; and indeed it would appear, that every 
method to assist the memory, must be based on 
combining locality with the subjects to be remem¬ 
bered. 


CHAP. I. 


IDEATYPIC PRINCIPLES. 

An art of Memory implies a certain education of 
the faculties to which, in consequence of the many 
fallacies in education, the teacher seldom turns 
his thoughts. There is a physical, a mental, and 
a moral training; and he that would understand 
either, must enter into a close consideration of its 
nature and value. Not greater care is required to 
rear the tenderest flower, than is required to fos¬ 
ter the expanding mind: ordinary expressions, 
however, would not lead us to think so. How 
often do the intricate workings of the childish 
mind perplex us. How often are we posed by 
queries pertaining to the commonest things, wdiile 
we are priding ourselves, perhaps, on our ability 
to answer many abstruse questions in science or 
in art. 

The operations of a child’s mind are too subtile 
to be well scrutinized, or at once directed. Hence, 
parents are generally much better judges of the 
physical than the mental health of their children; 
and yet every one feels that he can say something 
on the teacher’s delicate and mysterious craft: 


IDEATYPIC PRINCIPLES. 


11 


why not prescribe also for our physicians, and 
help them in the exercise of their vocation ? But 
they are properly qualified, and properly paid for 
their services. So let the teacher be—the public 
would be gainers. The teachers and the taught 
must advance together. The degradation of the 
teacher is the degradation of the taught. 

The different effects perceived in the same class 
of pupils, shew the need of different appliances; 
but what the difference of treatment should be, or 
who is to prescribe, remains a question. Has no 
one thought that there might be a mode of pass¬ 
ing from the “ abstract to the concrete ” or, from 
an abstraction to a type , in such a w T ay, that the 
teacher might educate all who are not positively 
deficient, in much less time than usual, according 
to the different extent of their perceptive powers? 

Pestalozzi and others half advanced the idea, 
when they introduced the excellent plan of throw¬ 
ing aside the use of mere abstract terms, when a 
sensible presentation of an object could be made. 
A few among the ancients and among the Germans 
perceived that the usual mode of acquiring know¬ 
ledge was not based on right principles, and not 
suited to the faculties of mind ; for man is pre¬ 
eminently constituted to perceive sensible objects: 
we have not even a knowledge of a mind, apart 
from revelation, but by the contact of our percep- 


12 


IDEATYPIC PRINCIPLES. 


tive powers with their proper object. As mind 
can only operate relatively, it must be in rela¬ 
tion to its perceptions, and through them; hence 
the mind must lay hold of and retain all mat¬ 
ters through the perceptive faculties, or it must 
apprehend abstractions, which is contrary to our 
observations of the connection subsisting in the 
several parts of our constitution. It may be said, 
indeed, that an educated mind can have, apart from 
the perception of externals, an intimate perception 
of an abstraction. It may appear so; but “ every 
thing must have a handle/’ as good Rowland Hill 
used to say; and every thing abstracted will be 
more or less apprehended and retained, as it comes 
into our mind under some imagined form, more 
or less like a form, or composed of forms that have 
been first received from the external world, through 
the ordinary perceptive powers. Our thoughts 
are thus led to perceive that there is a necessary 
co-operation of mind and body in all instances. 
The senses—the brain—and the mind, actively 
co-operate; and though the mind sometimes ap¬ 
pears to w r ork alone, it is because it falls back upon 
perceptions, previously acquired and retained in 
the memory. The brain is the organ of the mind; 
and as there are discovered laws which affect this 
material organ, in connection with mental as well 
as physical operation, it is our duty to attend to 


IDEATYPIC PRINCIPLES. 


13 


them, and to walk as nearly as possible with the 
design of nature. Nature, through whom we look 
up to nature’s God, has surrounded us with laws, 
never transgressed with impunity. The physical 
and organic laws “ cast their shadows before us 
so that in the dazzling magnificence of the Crea¬ 
tor’s power that shines forth in them, we may 
learn the Divine word that went forth with them— 
66 Do these things and live.” Creation is a reve¬ 
lation of Jehovah’s will to man; and the searcher 
after truth there learns his imperative duty of obe¬ 
dience to every physical and organic law, or he 
pays the price of his neglect. 

The equally imperative laws of mind, whose 
functions are manifested to us through physical 
organs, have been disregarded, because their ef¬ 
fects are less easily traced, and less evidence of 
their certainty is manifest. Yet, can we suppose 
there is less certainty in the operations of God’s 
laws, as exhibited to us in the manifestation of 
mind, than there is in the manifestation of life 
through material organs ? Can we think that the 
connection between the brain and the external 
world, admits of less certain laws than any other 
connection subsisting between matter, and in the 
connection of matter and spiritual essences ? Can 
we, by anything like reasoning, arrive at the con¬ 
clusion, that we verge upon something that is wild 


14 


IDEATYPIC PRINCIPLES. 


and extravagant—that owns no law, or is superior 
to all law? Mind must be subject to Omnipotence, 
and its operations certain; for it is subject to an 
influence, that, in no instance, directly or indirect¬ 
ly, admits of “ variableness/’—to an influence, 
that, in no instance apart from the miraculous, 
manifests itself to man, except through the medi¬ 
um of a determinate channel—a steadfast law. 

These remarks apply to the present system of 
education, which is one of incessant mental toil: 
all the soul’s energies are expended on the mere 
attainment of knowledge, without any time for 
subsequent useful application of it. The fagging 
system presents us with perhaps one eminent man 
amidst the mental and physical wreck of five hun¬ 
dred. In these remarks, I do not mean to depre¬ 
ciate application, but to speak of the waste or 
destruction of the mental powers, in misapplied 
or excessive toil. 

The distribution and arrangement of power is 
well understood by machinists. There is with them 
no voluntary waste nor prostration of strength: 
the laws of the Creator are sufficiently apprehended 
and attended to. The work done by them is not 
the worse for being done in a fraction of the time 
once employed: on the contrary, there is greater 
precision and greater certainty than ever before 
attained. He who understands this, and has 


IDEATYPIC PRINCIPLES. 


15 


learned some of the conditions of his own econo¬ 
my from Coombe, Brigham, and others, will at 
once perceive the value of the proposed distribu¬ 
tion and management of mental power as detailed 
in Ideatypics. In referring to the necessity of a 
teacher’s acquaintance with certain principles, I 
do not mean that he should enter upon the study 
of Metaphysics, or dive into the subtleties of 
Locke, but that he should practise Education as 
an art, and follow it up as an inductive science,— 
that he should know the faculties and their ob¬ 
jects, and the way in which nature will be most 
likely to assist his endeavors. For this purpose, 
I have given a classification of faculties, which is 
to be considered apart from every system, what¬ 
ever its name or tendency, and tested by its own 
value, as the result of observation. 

In attempting to give the most prominent sim¬ 
ple faculties, and their modes or states, I shall be 
furnishing a starting-point, and a basis for future 
remarks. 

I have presumed to differ from Locke when he 
classifies certain mental conditions as faculties; 
and I have no doubt that, by and by, many will 
presume as I do. 

I recollect that, in a Court of Law, Dr. Elliot 
w T as decided to be insane, for asserting that the 
sun was inhabited; yet only eight years after- 


16 


IDEATYPIC PRINCIPLES. 


wards, the same opinion was expressed by Dr. 
Herschell, with great applause. 

There are certain powers belonging to us, that 
may be called the Media of Perception, whose ready 
servants are the senses, and who stand in the way 
of these and the powers of reflection. Whatever 
our opinions may be, we must acknowledge that 
we have an observing group of faculties. 


LANGUAGE, the servant 
of all, is represented as 
involving the materials 
of its exercise. 



INDIVIDUALITY^ 

FORM 
SIZE 

COLOR ^ T y Observing Group. 

ORDER 
NUMBER 
SOUND 

These are necessary to give play to 
the Scientific Group. 

Constkuctiveness of every kind Y 
MODIFICATION of SOUNDS / 

TIME i > Scientific 

PLACE A C Grou P‘ 

EVENTS 


I 


These primitive powers that help us to form 
simple ideas, are all served by Language, that 
finds in these two groups the materials of its ex¬ 
ercise. It is a delightful task indeed, to observe 
the gradually manifested powers of a child as it 
applies language to the objects of the faculties. 
It should lead us to reflect on the law s of mental 
manifestation, that w-e may apply the principles in 
all our efforts to educate or improve the memory. 

There is a group of feelings that come into play 
in the exercise of the observing group. 



IDEATYPIC PRINCIPLES. 


17 


Domestic \ 

Preservative J 

Prudential f Group of Feelings 
Regulative £ that belong to human nature. 
Imaginative \ 

Beneficent J 

The whole are, more or less, influenced by rea¬ 
soning faculties, by which we are led to discover, 
reflect, and decide upon 

Cause and Effect 
Similarity „ Dissimilarity 
Congruity „ Incongruity 

I might call these three faculties, with more 
effect, the Causal, Synthetical, and Analytical 
powers of the mind. It was necessary that I 
should speak of all the faculties, that the wide 
range of Memory might be apprehended, and the 
relation I have assigned it, in not calling it a fa¬ 
culty, understood. 

There are states , conditions, or modes of opera¬ 
tion of the faculties, that are usually called facul¬ 
ties, but erroneously. These we must attend to. 

1. ATTENTION. 

Attention is a mode—a state—not a faculty. 
We must produce this state, and promote atten¬ 
tion, by what Nature or Art has to present, di¬ 
rectly connected with any subject, or, by a type; 
as. Science, by books; Virtue, by a crown inter¬ 
woven with laurel, &c., or any more appropriate 


c 


18 


IDEATYPIC PRINCIPLES. 


symbol. By this means, the senses and the ob¬ 
serving group are exercised, and all the necessaiy 
powers employed, instead of a part. 

2. PERCEPTION. 

Let the first part be well performed: the second, 
which is Perception, follows, in greater or less 
power, as a result arrived at by the proper activity 
of the faculties. Scarcely any description is now 
given in a publication without pictorial illustra¬ 
tion ; and, in the education of children, the value 
of pictures has been long understood. The first 
progress of a child’s mind is visible in its percep¬ 
tion of similitudes, either in an object that has a 
real or fancied resemblance to a familiar object, or 
as a type, more or less like the prototype in the 
child’s mind. Every one’s faculties have within 
themselves, a connexion and mutual action, which 
we designate Association. 

3. ASSOCIATION. 

This is an active condition or mode of operation 
of the faculties that we shall have to speak of more 
at large. 

4. JUDGMENT. 

This is an attribute of all the faculties, implying 
discrimination. Each faculty discerns the limit 
of its own function; and each perception takes, 
as it were, its own distinctive marks and bounda¬ 
ries. Not any two perceptions, perhaps, are found 


IDEATYPIC PRINCIPLES. 


19 


alike in any two minds. To improve the Judg¬ 
ment is a most important point, and never ought 
to be lost sight of in improving the Memory. 

We see, then, from what has been said, that 
Association is a perceptive condition or mode of 
operation; and Judgment an attribute of the fa¬ 
culties ; and that Perception is a condition or 
mode of operation ; and that all the conditions are 
alike improvable states; and that memory, the 
last of the conditions, is most cultivated when all 
the mental conditions are attended to . 

We shall enlarge upon the different principles 
of this System in relation to these conditions of 
mind. 


CHAP. II. 


ASSOCIATION. 

My object throughout this Work is, to assist the 
enquirer in directing the faculties of his mind, and 
to aid him in search of that way of regulating them 
which is most according to nature—most easily 
deduced from first principles, and which leads to 
the best condition of the mental powers. I pro¬ 
pose, however, to give a few general remarks, be¬ 
fore proceeding to particular Association. 

Every individual has a different mental por¬ 
traiture—if I may use the term,—a differently 
modified observing power, or perceptive condition 
of mind; and this gives rise to the various associ¬ 
ated forms or notions, which are known to exist 
in us all. We possess the same primitive powers 
of mind, but in different degrees; hence different 
treatment is needed, and different modes of educa¬ 
tional process should be employed to draw out the 
one talent, and regulate the multiplying power of 
the five. I have, therefore, endeavoured to adopt 
general principles with a diversified application; 
because we have general associations, as those in 
connection with the color of the sky, etc.; while 


ASSOCIATION. 


21 


particular associations, as those of heat and cold, 
etc., will have most to do with our own particular 
ways of thinking, constitution of mind, and tem¬ 
perament. 

Let the letters i, c, f, s, l, e, in all parts of the 
figure (vide PL 1) be used for the words Individu¬ 
ality, Colour, Form, Size, Locality, and Eventua¬ 
lity. Let the different circles represent different 
degrees of mental power, in which there is denoted 
the tendency of one mind to observe in the order 
of i, c, f, s, and so on in other minds in encreased 
degree, as represented in the succeeding circles. 
Let the different squares also represent different 
degrees of differently-modified powers, in which 
there is also denoted a tendency to observe in the 
contrary order of the letters i, s, f, c; i, l, s, f, c, 
etc. As there are different degrees of activity in 
the faculties also, denoted by some letters being 
before others, in a circle or square,—that which 
denotes the most active, coming first, we see the 
difficulty of representing anything abstract, though 
apprehended by ourselves, that shall sufficiently 
strike many minds, or even arrest their attention, 
unless presented under some tangible form, by 
which one mind shall draw forth the less active 
or less prominent faculties of other minds. For 
instance:—the color of that building is a striking 
point of representation, to which we have sup- 


22 


ASSOCIATION. 


posed the more or less active faculties of each to 
be drawn, as represented by the lines from c to 
the building. You may draw the lines to any 
other letter, and pursue the same mode of repre¬ 
sentation, with reference to form, &c. The Color, 
Form, &c., of this building, may be a medium 
through w 7 hich much information may be imparted 
with certainty; because it brings the same faculty 
in each first into play, and w^e are not involved in 
the absurdity of expecting a pupil to think w r ell 
about, or understand that which he has had but 
little tendency to observe, either from little exer¬ 
cise, or small powers of observation. Our way, 
then, of proceeding with a pupil is manifest: we 
must place him in a w r ay to receive the simple 
ideas that are requisite. The business of the Edu¬ 
cator is, to furnish a type, involving the elements 
of his own ideal abstractions, or associated forms, 
or notions, that he may wish to communicate. It 
must be a type, almost or really tangible—the re¬ 
presentation of his own compound idea; under 
cover of wdiich, he shall best communicate know¬ 
ledge, and fix it in the memory of another. All 
the powers will be employed under such an ar¬ 
rangement, and there wall be a passing from that 
w hich is indefinite and indeterminate, and open at 
every point to error, to that which is definite and 
determinate, and certainly know-n. It will occur 


ASSOCIATION. 


23 


to most of us 3 that the notions of men will be more 
or less definable—more or less approaching to the 
perfect notion, or its sign—more or less compre¬ 
hending the requisite number of simple ideas, as 
the individual has more or less travelled or ob¬ 
served and thought of things, or been instructed 
in the right use of his observing faculties, so as to 
enable him to discourse of form without the exist¬ 
ence. This being so, it will be found that we shall 
make most advances with those who possess the 
greater number of right notions of things. I have 
not forgotten those whose knowledge of this Art 
is to be derived from this book alone. I have re¬ 
served the next Chapter for Particular Association. 

The use of similitudes or types, every society 
indirectly acknowledges. The business of life is 
comparison, and some of man’s mightiest move¬ 
ments have hinged upon feelings arising out of it. 
The aspirant after glory sets up his pattern; the 
shadowy phantom of his mind is embodied, and 
moves before him as something almost tangible. 
The poet, that revels in all that is bright, shadowy, 
and indefinable, brings within the range of our 
mental vision enduring forms, enshrouded in wliat 
had before spurned the shadow of an outline— 
even all the bright fancies that move out of his 
glowing conceptions of nature. Thought loves the 
companionship of kindred thought; and though 


24 


ASSOCIATION. 


ages intervene, each searches out his own, and 
clings to it as retained in some type that any other 
dress of language would for ever hide from our 
understandings. 

Among the different causes that have promoted 
the civilization of man, there is none, perhaps, so 
fruitful as the invention of the alphabet, or idea- 
typed sounds. It would be interesting to trace 
the progress of language in connection with the 
march of mind; but it is foreign to our subject. 
Oral language, no doubt, originated in an attempt 
to produce a type of sounds, recalling absent ob¬ 
jects and the things connected with them. Sounds 
afford a vast number of symbols. In common 
life, there is a transfer of sound from particular 
objects to the expression of abstract qualities, go¬ 
verned by certain principles of association. The 
reader will, no doubt, perceive that I am drawing 
principles that are afterwards applied, either in a 
direct or reverse form, from practices that have 
been, in part, sanctioned by long usage, yet em¬ 
ployed without system. Though less convenient 
and less valuable than oral language when once 
invented, a more direct and simple language was 
first used—more easily contrived, and better un¬ 
derstood, viz. the language of pictorial symbols. 
Sound dies, and has no perpetuity; and tradition 
is only the echo of the voice of the past. A pic- 


ASSOCIATION. 


25 


ture on the sea-sand would outlive the sound of 
the human voice ; and more favorable circum¬ 
stances would preserve a picture for ages, when 
tradition herself had died away. To represent 
visible actions and visible objects, would be an 
easy affair; and signs for abstract qualities might 
be obtained, as in sounds, upon the principle of 
association—turning to account the already ex¬ 
isting language of sound, rather than form a new 
series of associations. With this idea, I have 
avoided much that is arbitrary in Mnemonics, 
with great advantage. Ideatypics is an archway 
over Lethe^s stream : one butment is the language 
of sounds, the other is the language of pictorial 
symbols; both stand out of the stream; neither, 
of itself, gives a way over. 

Nothing can so well convey an idea of an ox, 
as the picture of the animal, or, to save time, its 
head. A lion, or part of one, might refer to abs¬ 
tract qualities, as in the case of Richard I. the 
lion-hearted. This kind of symbol, however, must 
be subject to regulation, so as to preclude that 
unassociated individuality of objects, and compa¬ 
rative difficulty of reference to them, which we 
might find in attempting to remember the Hiero¬ 
glyphic Bible, which was devised to aid the me¬ 
mory of the young. In the first Alphabets, the 
most sober-minded can see certain resemblances 


26 


ASSOCIATION. 


to things. Aleph means an ox. Eleplias of the 
Latin, Greek, and English, seems to be derived 
from this Hebrew name; but original sense is 
often lost in the secondary. Aleph was used in 
Syria in connection with the elephant, and came 
to the western nation so. What is remarkable, 
the Romans called the elephant the Bos Lucas — 
the Lucanian ox,—as if referring to the source 
whence derived. 

We have stated, the most simple way of repre¬ 
senting the ox, would be by a picture of its head 
and horns; and, it appears we have it in fair pro¬ 
portions in the Phoenecian character. The ox 5 
head, two horns, and ears are seen when the figure 
is turned. 



Taurus, the bull, has for its sign in the Zodiac, 
a similar figure. We might extend the subject to 
a consideration of Egyptian Hieroglyphics, but it 
is more convenient now to pass to the considera¬ 
tion of Particular Association. 



CHAP. III. 


ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 

Of the five modes of operation,, states, or condi¬ 
tions of the faculties—Attention, Perception, As¬ 
sociation, Judgment, and Memory,—I shall take 
Association, and shew my several modes of pro¬ 
cedure. 

1.—The first great principles, or precepts, are. 
Attach the known to the known, and pass from 
the known to the unknown, by something inter¬ 
mediate, so as with the one to think of the other. 
We shall presently explain this, and give many 
examples. 

Something intermediate was spoken of by Willis, 
a fellow of Magdalen College, as early as 1661. 
In his Mnemonica , a very rare book, published in 
London in the first year of the reign of Charles II. 
he speaks of linking two ideas—two known ideas— 
by association; or transferring the action of one 
idea to the other, which he has appositely illus¬ 
trated. From this circumstance, then, of calling 
up one idea whenever another is named, (and this 
we are enabled to do from transferred action or site) 
I have adopted the term transfer, as one of ge¬ 
neral application. 


28 


ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


As an illustration of this: If I want to connect, 
the words washing and clay, I at once imagine the 
clay to be made into a bowl, and the washing to 
be done in it; by this means, I have transferred 
an act that binds the two ideas in such a way, 
that whenever one is mentioned, the other also 
comes to mind. It appears to me, that every ob¬ 
ject is a centre-point to a crowd of objects; that 
each object is, in fact, a centre to others that serve 
as centre-points; and that each mind has in it 
these groupings, as circumstances have more or 
less presented them. 

If I take it as an agreement, that a chair, or any 
article, has attached to it certain points, and I lo¬ 
cate on these points, as I shall by and by shew; 
not using mere arbitrary places, as some do, pro¬ 
ducing a uniformity that destroys the object aimed 
at; but points which belong to the ordinary shape 
of the article: I can enable any one to employ 
them to great advantage. In addition to these 
natural points, there are objects and circumstances, 
associated with the whole, that may serve a most 
important end in acquiring knowledge. 

Every abstract has its concrete : there is no 
mental conception that does not attach itself, more 
or less, in idea to some visible form, which the 
mind of man naturally and immediately presents. 
Each individual, therefore, may supply himself 


ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


29 


with associations, more appropriate in his own 
view than I have given in my examples. This is 
expected of the reader: my business is to give a 
proper direction to the mental powers, and leave 
each one to his own peculiarities. 

If a man hear the relation of a naval battle, 
does he not presently seem to behold the things 
obvious in such matters ? If mention be made of 
mustering an army, does not the hearer form in 
his mind the images of the field? The natural 
action of the mind is clear, and ought to be at¬ 
tended to. 

I have been careful to give no precept which 
nature herself has not dictated, with a view to 
imprint ideas more deeply in memory. In Chap¬ 
ter IV. I shall give a method of bestowing them 
methodically in some place, lest they be forgotten, 
through light apprehension. 

A great objection, sometimes raised against an 
art of Memory, is, that there are two things to be 
remembered for one. This objection is not worth 
considering, if by the aid of any art, two things 
can be better remembered than one. Objections 
have always been found against every department 
of knowledge, and its treatment; and such is the 
imperfection of our powers, that this will proba¬ 
bly always be the case: yet much of the objection, 
says a writer in the London Encyclopaedia, made 


30 


ASSOCIATION—PARTICULAR. 


to Mnemonics by some of tlie learned, has been 
to prevent its becoming a “ handle for the vulgar.” 

In many of my methods of association, how¬ 
ever, the objection, that there are two things to be 
remembered for one, rarely applies; for as in an 
optic lens, there is a concentration of rays to a 
central point, so in the typical lens, &c., of which 
I am about to speak, there is but one prominent 
point, in which all the information centres, and 
which is the chief and proper object of memory. 

That no one may mistake the purport of these 
examples and exercises on Association, I would 
add, there appears to me to be three kinds of 
Memory—general, particular, and associative.— 
The first has been possessed in a remarkable de¬ 
gree by many distinguished men. They remem¬ 
bered every thing to which they turned their at¬ 
tention. Others have possessed only a particular 
memory. Eulur could recollect figures, and work 
them to an amazing extent in the lecture-room. 
La Grange, equally eminent as a mathematician, 
always broke down in his attempts to recollect the 
figures of a simple process: he generally left his 
pupils to finish what he began. Some have re¬ 
membered words; others have retained ideas.— 
There is another kind of memory, which seems 
generally predominant in all, yet employed to a 
great extent ignorantly; I mean the associative 


ASSOCIATION—PARTUCULAR. 


31 


kind, the powers of which appear to me to he in¬ 
exhaustible. Cuvier is said to have possessed a 
general and particular memory of the highest kind; 
yet he is found to have associated his tables of 
Natural History, and thus to have raised for him¬ 
self a lasting monument. 

I wish the reader to attach things that he does 
not know to something that he does; so that when 
he thinks of one, he shall think of the others.— 
According to the nature of the ideas in myself and 
others, and the similarity of our notions, will our 
mental operations correspond, and the full advan¬ 
tage of my associations be clear to them. Those 
whose habits of thinking are quite different to 
mine, may nevertheless find in this Chapter of 
Association, such helps to what appears to be a 
constituent part of our nature, that it may set 
them thinking for themselves. 


A Systematic Arrangement of the several Modes 
of Association included in 

1. The connection of the known idea with the 

known. 

2. The connection of the known idea with the 

unknown. 



.12 


ASSOCIATION-PA RTIC U L Alt. 


1. Associate the known ideas with the known by 

C SCRIPTILE 

TRANSFER< direct 

f COMPOUND (SCRTPTLLE and DIRECT) 

in three primary cases, or relations* as follow:— 

Case I.—In the Transfer of Ideas known apart, 
whose archetypes*, one or both, are 
objects of sense. 

Case II.—In the Transfer chain of Ideas known 
apart. 

Case III.—In the Typical Transfer of Ideas, 
whose archetypes are known apart, 
and which are not objects of sense. 

In these two Cases, types are used for the 
Archetypes, consisting of Forms, Letters, 
Numbers, Sounds, Colors, fyc. 

EXAMPLES. 

CASE I. 

SCRIPTILE.1 Q. —Associate Marble with Gratitude. 

An. —On the white surface of the Marble, 

I write Gratitude in black letters. 

direct . 2 Q. —Associate Beauty with Sandy Plain. 

An .—There is a positive and negative As¬ 
sociation here : for instance, we can 
say, A Sandy Plain presents no beauty 
to the eye; or, we can say, An oasis 
is a spot of beauty in the Sandy Plain. 
compound. 3 Q. —Associate CiESAR and his expression, 

“ I came, I saw, I conquered,” with 
Tree. 

An. —Let Caesar be carving the words, “ 1 
came, I saw, I conquered,” on a Tree. 

* Archetype is the original of a copy. Every idea in the first instance, 
is the perception of something without us. Every thing external, that 
impresses the perceptive faculties, is an Archetype. 





ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


33 


EXAMPLES. Case II. 

1 Q.—From an old MS.* associate the following:— 

“ MAN, HORSE, STONE, PIG, TREE.” 

An. —“ Let the Man be on horseback, the Horse champ¬ 
ing a Stone, which sends forth sparks that burn 
the Pig, and cause him to run so as to overturn 
the Tree.” 

In this way we may emulate the Mnemonical 
feats of old, and repeat 2,000 words, like Seneca, 
on once reading them. 

2 Q .—Associate rye, winchelsea, Hastings, pen- 

hurst, LEWES, SEAFORD, BRIGHTON, HORSHAM, 
ARUNDEL, PETERSFIELD, TROTTON, PETWORTH, 
BOGNOR. 

An. —Amongst the rye I dropped a winch , and hasting 
to find it, I lose my pen. The sea in front, by 
its brightness , startles a horse, which runs round 
the field into a peat bog. 

I left out the word trotton, to shew my mode 
of combining the scriptile and the direct transfer. 
To introduce this, suppose the horse to have a 
horse-cloth, and written on the corner the word 
trotton. Carry the actions and the objects in 
your eye, and you may read off words so as to 
remember them. I have taken one of the most 
difficult associations, and preserved the order of 
the words, as given us by Chambers (except in one 
instance), to shew its application in that particu¬ 
lar way when needed. 

* Watson’s, in the British Museum. 


34 


ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


3 Q. —Associate class, order, genus, species. 

An .—As I only want to know the order of these words, 
I associate the initial letters, and make the word 

COGS. 

EXAMPLES. Case III. 

1 Q. —Associate justice with wisdom. 

An. — I place an owl for wisdom, on the shoulders of 
justice, as she is generally represented with 
scales. 

‘2 Q. —Associate thought with infinity. 

An .—A flash of light (thought) reveals to me an 
interminable ocean (infinity). 

3 Q .—Associate doctrine with exertion. 

An. —I think of an exertion made to propagate a 
doctrine. 

The last examples, in connection with Locality, 
apply especially to the association of Sermons, 
Speeches, Poetry, Prose, &c. &c. 

We see there are many ways of associating, one 
of which will always present itself to the mind. 
As this is one of the finest exercises in which a 
pupil can be employed for the production of ori¬ 
ginal thought, and the improvement of the judg¬ 
ment, I shall give exercises which may afterwards 
be extended. 


ASSOCIATION—PARTICULAR. 


35 


EXERCISES. Cases I. II. HI. 

Q .—How would you associate — 

1. Grass and wealth? 

2. The pride, passion, caution, and simplicity of 

Henry II. ? 

3. The profligacy, haughtiness, and tyranny of Wil¬ 

liam Rufus ? 

4. Portreeve or bailiff and the title of mayor ? 

5. The crime, subsequent distress, arid final destruc¬ 

tion of King John? 

6. Propugn and to defend? 

7. Categories, substance, quality, quantity, relation, 

action, passion, when, where, position, habit ? 

8. Synod and Church Assembly ? 

9. Economy and management ? 

10. Domesday-book and surname* 

11. The abrogation of the Game and Forest Laws 

by Stephen, and the latter’s physical and men¬ 
tal capacity for government ? 

12. Geoffrey of 3Ionmouth and JFilliam of Malmsbury, 

. contemporaries ? 

13. Unlimited ambition and a vindictive spirit ? 

14. The progress of literature and home improvement 

in Henry II. ’s reign? 

15. How would you associate with Henry VIII. the 

bishoprics he erected, viz. JVestminster, Peter¬ 
borough, Bristol, Oxford, Chester, and Glou¬ 
cester ? 

16. How would you associate Henry VIII.’s six wives 

in their order and the particular deaths they 
died? 


36 


ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


2. The connection of the known idea with the 
unknown. 

The mind passes from the known to the un¬ 
known by 

/" SCRIPTILE 


TRANSFER 


DIRECT 
COMPOUND 
PHONETIC 
VLOCAL 


in five primary cases , or relations, as follow:— 

Case I. typical \ 

„ II. PHONETIC I 

„ III. literal Vlens or link and chain. 

„ IV. SYMBOLIC 1 
„ V. CHROMATIC✓ 

The term lens refers to the focus (vide fronti¬ 
spiece, Fig. 1.) as it were presented to the mind 
in each division, where there is concentred many 
unconnected parts of knowledge. The term link 
applies similarly; several of these form a chain .— 
The five divisions I shall explain severally, and 
illustrate by examples, so that the mind will rea¬ 
dily fall in with each operation, and employ it 
with the utmost advantage. 


Case I.—In the Typical Lens the mind brings toge¬ 
ther two or more types, by TRANSFER 
scriptile, direct, &c. &c. (vide Fig. 1, 
Fron.) 

Case II.—In the Phonetic Lens, &c. sounds are trans¬ 
ferred, or sound is the principal matter of 
memory connected with the transfer. 


ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


37 


Case III.—In the Literal Lens, &c. a letter most 
connected with the subject is the assumed 
form to which there is a transfer, and with 
which many things may be connected or 
embodied. The rules of Syntax are best 
associated with the letters, as a multipli- 
plicity of objects only serves to make the 
assumed letter more distinct, and reference 
to it easier. 

Case IV.—In the Symbolic Lens, &c. symbols, or less 
distinct types, are used. 

Case V.—In the Chromatic Lens, &c. colors are em¬ 
ployed. 

If I do not make these distinctions, which are 
really easy in practice, and instead of them merely 
speak of Transfer in association, leaving the pupil 
to apply the principles as he pleases, it will induce 
perplexity in his mind, because he will be ignorant 
of any link or chain to be used: all he has to do 
now is, to select, as he may need, one of the modes 
detailed, or modify several, as it best suits his pe¬ 
culiar turn of mind. 

Suppose there is in the mind the idea of an 
Archetype; then, to this known Archetype or its 
substitute, a type, there is a transfer to be made 
of matters of study, known or unknown, so that 
they can always be referred to. The Archetypes 
are brought together sensibly in the types or 
typical LENS, (I use this term for popular pur¬ 
poses,) so that they can be made objects of sight. 


38 


ASSOCIATION—PARTICULAR. 


if you please* as well as objects of imagination. 
As in the real lens there is a concentration of light* 
which goes to the formation of perfect images* so 
in the typical lens there is perfect distinctness* 
besides the concentration of knowledge* and the 
gathering together of points of information* that 
students know not where to find systematically* 
but which are brought forward frequently after a 
sort of blind search in the understanding. 

A simple illustration* applicable to all the cases, 
is given in the Frontispiece (vide Fig. 1). Suppose 
archetypes 1* 2* 3, 4* 5* &c. to be different in 
their nature* or to be things* &c. out of ourselves 
that produce ideas in ourselves. These are sup¬ 
posed to be brought* under some form, to a central 
type* marked t* (which I have called a lens or 
link*) so as to be received in a concentrated form 
there* along with the known idea* which is repre¬ 
sented by a line darker than the rest. By this 
contrivance* fifty or a hundred accessions may be 
made to one idea* and so connected that* instead 
of fifty or a hundred unconnected ideas being re¬ 
ceived into the mind as at ideas 1 * 2* 3* 4* &c.* 
they are all received through the medium of one 
known idea* which is represented by the dark line 
passing directly to the eye. 

This concentration of knowledge is a distin¬ 
guishing original feature in this system. We may 


ASSOCIATION—PARTICULAR. 


39 


express what we have said above in other words. 
The ideas in the mind are brought together as it 
were to a focus in mental perception as the mind 
looks on the Literal or Typical Lens, &c., and? 
through the associated forms in it, to the Arche¬ 
types, which are the originals, the things to be 
remembered. 


EXAMPLES to Case I. 

1 Q .—Suppose ck to stand for 2, and r, the initial let¬ 
ter of richard, prefixed, to make the word rock. 
The vowel o being of no value. Then, using this 
as a Symbol or type for Ilichard 11., how would 
you associate the events of his reign with it ? 

I should suppose a large rock before me in the 
sea. My first idea would be, that I should put 
no one there. By these letters, further on, I 
find the date of Richard’s accession, 1377* Using 
the rock as a centre point, I imagine the king to 
to be mounting it on a horse richly caparisoned 
—to denote that he was fond of ostentation, as 
well as to refer to the sorry spectacle he made 
with Bolingbroke. He is fearful of falling; to 
denote his timid disposition. The horse champs 
the bit; to denote the first appointment of a 
champion at the coronation. He is an admirable 
rider; to denote the first appointment of High 
Admiral. He wears a long train, a piked head¬ 
dress, and shoes fastened to the knee; to refer 
to the fashion of the times. He has a dagger 
in his hand; which refers to Walworth the Lord 
Mayor and the City Arms: on the dagger is 
stuck a card; which refers to the invention of 


40 


ASSOCIATION—PARTICULAR. 


cards in France.—Thus I continue, till I have 
associated the whole history; and then once look¬ 
ing over and locating the picture, enables me to 
retain it. 

It is sometimes advantageous, as I said before, 
to put a subject in more than one case; as Chro¬ 
nology, for instance, in Case I. and II. &c.. Typi¬ 
cal and Phonetic, besides using localities. The 
last we need not yet speak about. 

2 Q .—How will you associate the following Chronologi¬ 
cal Table \ 

Dr. Doddridge died. 

Antiquarian Society incorporated 

Lord Eldon born. 

Chatterton the Poet born .... 

Earthquake at Adrianople .... 

New Style introduced into England ) 

Sept. 3rd.) 

Marriage Act passed . 

Bishop Berkely died. 

Mansion House built (cost £42,000.) 

Society of Arts instituted .... 

British Museum established . . . 

Earthquake at Cairo & Constantinople 

Fielding died. 

Earthquake at Lisbon . . . , 

Mrs. Siddons born. 

Montesquieu died. 

Minorca surrendered to the French . 


1751 

1751 

1751 

1752 
1752 

1752 

1753 
1753 
1753 
1753 

1753 

1754 

1754 

1755 
1755 

1755 

1756 










ASSOCIATION—PARTICULAR. 


41 


Collins the Poet died . . . . . 1756 

Calcutta taken by the Nabob of Bengal 1756 


Oswego taken by the French . . . 1756 

George Vertue the Eugraver died . 1756 

Battle of Prague.1757 

„ „ Plaissy.1757 

Admiral Byng shot.1757 

Battle of Breslau.1757 

Siege of Olmutz.1758 

Goree taken by Commodore Keppel . 1758 

Allan Ramsay died.1758 

Horatio Lord Nelson born .... 1758 

Battle of JVlinden.1759 

Wolfe killed.1759 

Earthquake at Balbec.1759 

Professor Porson born.1759 

Handel died.1759 


Admiral Hawke defeats the French fleet 1759 

2 An .—This is not a difficult task, although so many 
facts are purposely inserted in the same year. 
I should first select one room. This is enough 
for 100 years, as we are told further ou in this 
work; or 1 should take a certain figure, a square, 
for instance, for one century, with 9 points in it. 
A sheet of paper may then contain the events 
of 100 years, and be hung up in some conspicu¬ 
ous place. 

In the fifth or central point of this square, 
or any other figure that may be used, I place 
the events of the 55th year just in the same 
way as 1 should place the 65th year on the 6th 
point of the figure, or the events of the 75th 











42 


ASSOCIATION-—PARTICULAR. 


year on the 7th point of the same figure. Then, 
round about each of these central points, or the 
objects placed there, I associate all the events 
of the 9 years that belong to each point.— 
The tens are associated together in some ex¬ 
ternal part, or figure, or on the ceiling if a room 
be used, as will be shewn in the Chapter on 
Locality. The years one to nine are managed 
in the same way, so as to form one comprehen¬ 
sive whole of each century. 

I then suppose the fifth point, that is, the 
place for the 55th year, as well as the others 
for the 75th, 85th, &c., to be surrounded by 
points, 1, 2, 3, 4 — 6, 7, 8, 9, as here shewn in 
the small points surrounding the larger. 


1 2 3 

... 



4 5 6 

. © -1 

• 2 

• 3 

7 8 9 

. . . 




. • -5 

• 6 


• 7 


• 2 


Those of the fifth point answer to the several 
years 51, 52, 53, 54. The centre is 55. Then 
56, 57, 58, 59. — Now proceeding to associate 
with types of forms and sounds, I give for the 
55th year’s facts the following:—The earth 
quakes under the lisping child that sits on the 
mountain . I make a sketch of this in the centre. 

In some of the more admired modes of re¬ 
membering Chronology, we find a phrase used 
for one fact , and the initial letters of some of 
the words of the phrase give the date. In such 
instances, however, the advantage of having a 
phrase somewhat in keeping with the subject, 
is not to be considered, while the difficult task 
remains of remembering the order of many 


ASSOCIATION—PARTICULAR. 


43 


words. For a thousand facts, there Would be 
required, at least, four thousand words. In 
what I propose, there is a ready and instant 
reference to a fact that locality alone secures; 
besides this, there is wanted generally hut one 
word for each fact, many contemporaneous facts 
also may he put together, and the words which 
are the types of facts, taken in any order , with 
the same result. I want the reader to bring the 
objects before his mind; by this means he will 
always come at the words . This is the secret. 
He need not take the words as I have associated 
them, nor try to remember them, but take the 
words earth quakes, lisping, child, sits on, 
mountain, for the facts in the year 55; or take 
nearer types of the archetypes, and associate as 
he pleases, find the place for them, and deli¬ 
neate them there. Any rude sketch of his own 
will serve. 

Whenever an object is inanimate and without 
action, it refers to death. Whenever an object 
is in action, or has with it some explanatory 
word, as above, in the phrase, the “ child that 
sits,” it refers to a birth, as indicated by the 
word child. Although the sound of some of 
the words I have used is not quite like those 
words that are to be recalled, yet it will be 
found, by experience, to be quite enough on al¬ 
most every occasion, from the circumstance of 
their being associated together. The rest fol¬ 
low in order, and their application will at once 
be seen by reference to the Chronological Table. 

51. (1st place)—A sapling elder- tree, near it an anti¬ 

quarian reading Doddridge. 

52. (2nd place)—A new stile, upon it one with chat¬ 

tering teeth, trembling at the dry and quaking 
earth. 


44 


ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


53. (3rd place)—A marriage in a mansion that con¬ 

tains a museum with artists working old burnt 
clay . 

54. (4th place)—With care and by constant upturning 

of the earth, the barren field becomes fruitful. 

56. (6th place)—The French do as vie do, for I calcu¬ 

late it is only the minority whose virtuous 
deeds add dignity to their calling, 

57. (7th place)—He prefers being shot in the battle's 

press , than placidly to perish by the plague. 

58. (8th place)—He bought a rain's head of almost 

full size, for a new nail and a couple of cowries. 

59. (9th place)—His poor son found mint and bulbous 

roots, a slaughtered wolf, and a French hawk, 
near an ant-hill. 

When quick at putting the figures in their pro¬ 
per places* one can almost read off Chronology so 
as to remember it. I need not remember the or¬ 
der of the words: every end is answered in calling 
to mind the objects* the qualities* the actions* and 
the places. I can readily recall several facts from 
sometimes one object associated with the central 
point. 

Thus may the numerous facts of 100 years be 
brought round ten central objects* which are placed 
in certain relative positions* either in a room or on 
some object* and thus can we recall to mind every 
fact with its date. 


ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


45 


3 Q. —Suppose I have other facts to add to those al¬ 
ready given, for instance, Guadaloupe surrendered 
to the British, 1759; the Battle of Bergen, also 
in the same year: How would you introduce 
these ? 

3 An. —I should make of the words Guadaloupe and 
Bergen, Gaudy bird ; because in 1759, we have 
French hawk, with which it can be readily as¬ 
sociated, and the mind receives an impression 
that is not soon lost. If one of these facts be 
recalled, it is hardly possible for us not to think 
of the others. 

EXERCISES. Case I. 

1 Q. —The word education, with its initial sound and 
four consonants, gives Edward IV. With this 
and a symbol, the printing-press, (because print¬ 
ing was introduced by Caxton,) associate all the 
events of this king’s reign. 

2. —Give me the objects made by the sounds contained 

in the words de foe, atterbury, goldsmith, 
and cowper; the first two dying, the last two 
born, in 1731. 

3. —By what type would you represent the three degrees 

of comparison, the positive, the comparative, 
and the superlative ? 

4. —Aleph K is like a leaf in form and sound. Find 

the similitudes of the next six Hebrew letters; 
and if no direct type is found, how would you 
proceed ? 

5. —The figure in b. I, prop. 27 of Euclid, is like a 

wedge or pile with a cane [for No. 27, vide 
Chap, on Number] across it. Find the nearest 
types of the next five figures of the same book. 


46 


ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


6. —Give me the types and the associations for remem¬ 

bering the measure of a Sapphic verse. 

7. —Give me the associations for the Glyconiart metre. 

8. —Associate a few genders by considering their rela¬ 

tions to things masculine and feminine. 
e. g. Grain, a French noun for corn, is mas; and 
it may be remembered from the circumstance of 
men being principally engaged in gathering it in. 

Guerre, f. war. Hiver, m, winter. 

Etang, m. a pond. Eau, f. water. 

EXAMPLES. Case II. 

As we have in Case I. necessarily introduced some 
examples of Case II., I shall here give examples 
of committing to memory the Vocabularies of Lan¬ 
guage. 

My mode of proceeding in this respect is the 
same as Herdson’s and Watson’s, and is so much 
like that which is said by some to be recently dis¬ 
covered, that, through a desire of avoiding colli¬ 
sion or controversy with the author of any system, 
I am induced to give, verbatim, Herdson’s method 
of acquiring unknown words, which bears date 
1661. 

‘‘LECTIO III. 

“ OF UNKNOWN WORDS. 

Unknown words are remembered four ways*: 

“1. By the harmonie of words, which various words 
have one with another; as the English word Riche, 
brings into my mind the Hebrew word lliach, etc. 


* Watson gives three M ays quite different. 



ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


47 


“ 2. From 'the sound or echo, as England, Isleland, 
Presbyterie, Presbyter, etc. 

tl 3. From the beginning of words, as, for back, back¬ 
wards. 

“ 4. By way of Division, as, for Parrat, a pare, and a 
rat.” 

EXAMPLES. 

1 Q .—The Greek word endecketai, means it is possi¬ 

ble. How would you associate the word and its 
meaning so that you might always think of one 
in connection with the other ? 

An. —I should select the nearest sound of endecketai, 
as, for instance, on deck a tie , This I should 
repeat in connection with it is possible, till a con¬ 
necting idea arose, as that of a marriage on deck 
being possible, and so on. Very little practice 
will give power to do this, in quicker time than I 
have taken to describe the way. 

2 Q. —Associate the following rule of Latin Syntax :— 

“ Satago , I am busy about a thing; misereor 
and miseresco, I pity, require a genitive case.” 

2 An. —I could use Case III. with more advantage in 

this instance; but as I have to illustrate Case II. 
I should repeat as follows:—There sat with his 
gold, busy , a miser, in misery o’erwhelmed, 
moving the pity of the gentle. Here the object 
and the action can be retained with ease; from 
these we pass to the abstract rule, which, in its 
usual form, would require much repetition before 
it could be remembered. 

3 Q. —Commit to memory these Latin, Greek, and 

French words:— 


48 ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


Pan ax. 
Cutis . 
Acus .. 
Climax 
Pilus.. 
Pontus 


LATIN. 


GREEK. 


.The herb all-heal. 
.Skin. 

.Chaff. 

Ladder. 

Hair. 

Sea. 


raon ........Easy. 

edos .A Statue. 

keiro .To crop, shear. 

poleisthai ... .To be sold. 

apantao .I meet. 

Tcatalambano. I take hold of 

with the hand. 


FRENCH. 

Moutonner. .To curl, to frizzle, to foam. 

Courir.To run. 

Avoir.To have. 

Envoyer... .To send. 

Soleil.The Sun. 

Bas .Stockings. 


3 An. —Latin. 

climax.. .A ladder , for climbing. 

C For some, the derivative Panacea, &c., will 
panax < suffice; for others, a Pan, to hold the herb 
( all-heal . 

C Some will remember it by the derivative cuti- 
cutis < cle, &c.; others will remember that a cut is 
f soon made in the skin. 

A word can generally be found that leads to the quantity. 

C Acute, with reference to pain from being 
acus < pierced with a piece of chaff, a needle, or a 
f prickly fish. 

pilus ...Hence pile, a hairy surface, nap, &c. 
pontus. ..Something more than a pond —the sea. 


Greek. —A ray of light on a book, makes it easy to read 
Head of a horse on a statue . 

Crop, or shave, with care. 

A pole hoist high, to give notice of something 
to be sold. 

A panting at a meeting. 

Catch a lamb by taking hold of it with the hand. 

















ASSOCIATION—PARTICULAR 


49 


French. —From mutton we pass to sheep, from this to 
their curled and frizzled wool, and the 
appearance of foam which their white 
backs at a distance present. 

A courier runs. 

Have war. This contains the sound and 
the meaning. 

Sent and on the way. 

The Sun is the sole source of light. 

Some stockings come from the sheep that 
baa . 


EXERCISES. Case II. 


1 Vervex-ecis, a wedder sheep, 
Foenisex-6cis, a mower of hay. 


Resex-8cis, 

Calix-icis, 

Calyx-ycis, 

Coccyx-ygis, 

Fornix-icis, 

Oryx-^gis, 

Phoenix-icis, 

Tradux-ttcis, 

Fornax-acis, 
Panax-Scis, 
Climax-Scis, 
Forfex-icis, 
Halex-ecis, 
Smilax-acis, 
Carex-icis, 
Supellex, 


Supelleetilis, ) ture. 


a vine branch cut 
[<# 

a cup 
the bud ofa flower, 
a cuckoo, 
a vault, 
a wild goat, 
a bird so called, 
a graff or offset of 
[a vine, 
a furnace, 
the herb all-heal, 
a ladder, 
a pair of scissors, 
a herring, 
the herb ropewced. 
a sedge. 

\ household furni- 


4 Calx-cis, 
Cortex-icis, 


the heel. 

the bark of a tree. 


Hystrix-Icis, 

Imbrex-icis, 

Lynx-cis, 

Limax-acis, 

Obex-icis, 

Serdix-Icis, 

Pumex-ieis, 

Rumex-icis, 

Sandix-Icis, 

Silex-icis, 

Yarix-icis, 


a porcupine . 
a gutter or roof tile 
an ounce , a beast 
of quick sight . 
a snail, 
a bolt or bar. 
a partridge, 
a pumice stone, 
sorrel. 

a purple color • 
afiint. 
a swoln vein . 


Aquilex-egis, a well-maker . 
Conj unx-ugis, a husband or wife. 
Frux, Frugis, corn. 

Grex, Gregis, a flock. 

Lex, Legis, a law. 
Phalanx-ngis, a phalanx . 
Remex-igis, a rower. 

Rex, Regis, a king. 

Nix, Nivis, snow. 

Nox, Noctis, night . 

Senex, Senis, old. 


E 



50 


ASSO-CIATTON—P ARTIC ULAR. 


FRENCH. 


Frapper, 

Fremir, 

Echapper, 

Dire, 

D 6b uter, 

Crever, 

Vert, 

Toujours, 

A l’entour,, 

Derriere, 


to strike. 

to shudder. 

to escape . 

to say , to tell . 

to begin, start wita. 

to put out> fyc. 

green. 

always. 

roundabout. 

behind. 


EXAMPLE. CaseTII. 

1 Q. —How would you associate in the Literal Lens, 
the Syntax of the genitive from Philip Buttmaun’s 
larger Greek Grammar? 

1 An. —Take any letter of the word genitive, T for in¬ 
stance, because it seems to be most suited to the 
subject; then, 

]. The fundamental idea of the genitive is that of 
derivation, shewn by the three arms of the T that 
proceed from a point. 

2. Place a miniature man at the top of the T, and 
suppose him to be waiting to free, keep off\ cause 
to desist, or deviate a cricket-ball—for with these 
verbs the genitive is employed in Greek. 

3. A column; is chosen for the upright part of the 
T, except a part or portion of the top; to shew 
that expressions, denoting selection or choice, 
exception , and in, general portion or part of a 
whole require the genitive. 

Note. —In Grammar every rectangular figure, divided 
into nine parts, presents us with a point for each 
part of speech, thus:— 


ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


51 


Ar. 

Noun 

Adj. 

Pro. 

Verb 

Adv. 

Prep. 

Conj*. 

Interj*. 


4. To denote, therefore, that the genitive is required 
in the separation or the distinguishing of an ob¬ 
ject by adjectives and pronouns;, set one man on 
the adjective corner, and another, of a very dif¬ 
ferent appearance, on a seat projecting from the 
pronoun point of the column. 

5v The high position of the man refers us to the su¬ 
perlative, requiring a genitive. 

6. Part of a clock placed under the feet of the man 
in the adverb place, shews us that adverbs of 
time, and adverbs of place, considered as parts 
of a more extensive time or place, require the 
genitive; ex.gr. Tris tes emeras —three times a 
day.—Use Case IF. sometimes for the recollec¬ 
tion of these examples. 

7. The man in the adjective point has lost part of 
his leg, to shew that expressions, with a limita¬ 
tion to a part or portion, require the genitive; 
ex. gr. 1 have broken my leg (leg is in the genitive). 

8. He is eating meat, drinking water, and enjoying 
the air there, to shew us that such expressions 
require a genitive whenever the thing enjoyed is 
mentioned. 

9. He has on his head, a garland of hyacinths, to 
denote that the material or stuff of which some¬ 
thing consists, requires a genitive. 











52 


ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


10. The man might determine to be seated on the 
column for years, if it stood. So circumstances 
or peculiarities on which things are as it were 
dependent, require the genitive; ex.gr. A column 
of many years' (standing). 

11. He is drawing up something from the centre point 
of the column, the verb place, to shew that ad¬ 
jectives derived from verbs have the object of the 
verb in the genitive; ex. gr. epistemon tinos — 
experienced in a thing—from epistathai. 

This is the substance of two pages and a half 
of the Grammar, and is quite enough for our pre¬ 
sent purpose—quite enough to convince any one 
that we can make grammatical abstractions as 
things that can be laid hold of sensibly, and de¬ 
tailed like the events or circumstances of an ordi¬ 
nary narrative. On all subjects any association 
of the student, or direction of his thoughts from 
the “ abstract to the concrete/ 5 will give him the 
advantage of the principle. His own associations 
will always be found of most advantage to himself. 
To say that he cannot associate, is to say, in other 
words, that he is dead to all the events around 
him: he remembers the transactions of yesterday 
chiefly by association. 

EXERCISES. Case III. 

1 Q .—About the word aves, with an axe on one side 
and a palm on the other, associate all that per¬ 
tains to the portion of Natural History included 
in the class aves. 


ASSOCIATION—PARTICULAR. 


53 


Note .—The four letters and the two objects, one on 
each side of aves, stand for the orders, i. e. an 
object or letter is a point of association for the 
Families, etc. in each order, a is the letter 
about which the four families in order n. are 
associated, viz. the Dentiostres, Fissirostres, 
Conirostres, and Tenui- 
rostres. The initial let¬ 
ters are d,f, c, t, which 
may be remembered in 
their order by the word 
defect or dovecot , the a 
presenting the appear¬ 
ance of one. 

2.—Associate the Syntax of Latin nouns with the in¬ 
itial letters of the words Nominative, Genitive, 
Dative, Accusative, Vocative, Ablative. 

The Cases IV. and V. are not illustrated in this 
place, because the less distinct types are found in 
connection with the more distinct types, and are 
used in the same way ; and colors are used in con¬ 
nection with Geography, &c., which is separately 
explained. 

EXERCISES on the FIVE CASES. 

1 Q .—In acquiring a knowledge of the parts of speech, 
under what form would you consider them *? 

2.—Associate the objects which belong to the types of 
sound drawn from the following names of the 
Socratic school:—Xenophon, iEschincs, Cimon, 
Aristippus, Phaedo, Euclid, Plato, Antisthcnes, 
Critias, and Alcibiades. 


“vAVES/ 


54 


ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


3. — Any (Enneandria) flowering rush by the waters 

is beautiful. After this pattern, associate the 
following:— 

7. Heptandria..seven stamens. .Horse chesnut. 

3. Triandria .. .three stamens . .Crocus. 

2. Diandria .. .two stamens ...Speedwell. 

4. —The fairies have fun (fungi) on their roomy 

(mushrooms) domes (referring to the form).— 
After this pattern, associate the remaining four 
orders of the twenty-fourth class Cryptogamia. 

5. —Associate these places in Ancient Geography:— 

Cythnos, Syros, Delos, Myconos, Potamos, and 
Miletus. These are all nearly in the same lati¬ 
tude. 

6. —Typify and associate that rule of Mensuration which 

shews us how to find the area of a quadrilateral 
figure that is included in a circle, or that has its 
opposite angles together equal to 180°. 

This rule may be remembered by the associa¬ 
tion of three or four of the simplest types. 


INTERMEDIATE IDEAS. 

In the association of objects, or the recollection 
of ideas or words, the pupil will often find inter¬ 
mediate ideas useful as a connecting medium. 

EXAMPLES. 

1 Q .—Associate song and tree. 

1 An .'—Let a bird give a song from the tree. Bird is a 

connecting intermediate idea, the link that holds 
together song and tree. 

2 Q .—How would you associate flag .fawn ? 

2 An .—Let the flag flap in the wind, and make a noise, 



ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


55 


startling the fawn. Noise is an intermediate 
idea. 

TRANSPOSITION OF LETTERS. 

Images are varied by the transposition of letters. 
This the pupil will often find very useful: e.g. If 
I would remember fenestra, a window, no idea 
is immediately presented on reading forwards; 
but on reading it backwards, I find artsen, which 
at once presents to me a strong associative link, 
by my imagining an artizan at work at some 
highly-finished Window. The modes of associat¬ 
ing are numerous. It suffices that I have pre¬ 
sented many compendious ways of arriving at the 
certain knowledge of very many things which 
could never be retained with certainty before.— 
Exercise, of course, is needed in these things as in 
every thing else. As for the sluggish and idle, 
they must sleep on, for to them every kind of ex¬ 
ertion is alike displeasing. 

LITERAL AND NUMERAL SYMBOLS. 

The following will be of service in associating. 
Some of them were employed in the Ci Ars Remi- 
niscendi” of John Baptist Porta, 1602 ; and some 
by Herdson, University of Cambridge, 1651.^ 


56 


ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


0. .Globe.Orange.Ball. 

1. .Knife ..Candle.Fish... .Staff... .Dart. 

2.. .Swan.Duck...Goose . .Serpent. 

3. .Bow.Triangle .. .Trident, any thing with 3 legs. 

4. .Chopper.Quadrangle.Die, &c. 

5.. Foot.Glove.Sickle ..Pincers, &c. 

C. .Tobacco pipe. 

7. .Carpenter’s iron Square.Razor. 

8. .Spectacles.Seacrab... .Twin apples. 

9. .Crosier.Burning-glass. .Riding-stick. 

These symbols are used on account of some re¬ 
semblance they have to the figures associated with 
them. Porta made up two alphabets also: one 
consisted of different positions of the human body; 
the other, of objects similar in form to the letters. 

Herdson, speaking of what he calls mental 
“ Short-hand,” says, “ Now the ideas of this al¬ 
phabet be these, and such like as your fancy pleas- 
eth to make choice of: A, a pair of compasses; b, 
a lute; B, a bow bent, with an arrow in it; C, a 
horn, &e.; and so in like manner take instruments, 
or any ideas, for the rest of the letters, which be 
like the letters.” 

This appears to me to be the best method w-e 
can adopt for learning foreign alphabets, unless we 
employ the principle of Proximity, of w hich some 
old authors speak. Resemblances were sought 
after in the old systems, and the practice is con¬ 
tinued, because it is found to be a natural pro¬ 
cedure. The old principle of Proximity w as ex- 















ASSOCIATION—PARTICULAR. 


57 


hibited by Willis as early as 1661. The conjoining 
of two ideas in one he effected by the direct ima¬ 
ginary contact of things, so that the proximity 
was complete. But, what is of more consequence, 
he says, “ All characters, single letters, naked 
numbers, descriptions and citations, are to be al¬ 
ways disposed in repositories by a scriptile idea;” 
that is, one thing is to be written upon another 
when “ no visible thing doth presently occur,” 
and you cannot “ conjoin the two ideas in one.” 
He speaks further of the principle in his direction 
to diminish as much as possible the time between 
receiving an impression, or idea, and its explana¬ 
tion, or consideration; because, in proportion to 
the increasing interval of time between an impress 
on the mind and the understanding of it, or the 
associating of it, is there a decreasing power of 
recollection. He says, “ Things charged on me¬ 
mory by day are to be deposited at least before 
sleep.” A teacher, therefore, whenever he awakens 
attention, should carefully explain; and an indi¬ 
vidual studying, should follow up his lessons as 
quickly as possible, without injury to his physical 
powers. 

In William Fulwood’s “ Castel of Memorie ,” 
printed at London, by Rouland Hall, dwellynge 
in Gutter Lane, at the signe of the Egle and the 


58 


ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


Keye, 1562*, we have this notice of the associa¬ 
tion of ideas :—“ We should represent thynges 
compound with the scimilitude of simple thynges, 
as, for example, He that will remember this sen¬ 
tence, Cicero contended with Hortensius , shall im¬ 
agine the pease called deer, which complayneth 
of the bareness of the garden; for so doth cicer 
resemble Cicero , and the garden, called hortus , 
doth represent Hortensius , and the complaynte, the 
contention , &c.” 

By this we see that the peculiar association of 
ideas presented is not at all a recent discovery. 
We may represent it thus 

CICERO. HORTENSIUS. 


CICER. HORTUS. 



Let c be the complaint made by cicer (a sort of 
pulse, which springs up in barren grounds,) to the 
garden in which it is imagined to grow. Cicer, as 
well as hortus, the Latin word for garden, we were 
obliged to retain, to shew the point of the author, 
w ho translated a Latin work. This mode of associ¬ 
ation I employ in common with other Mnemonists. 

* An earlier edition of this extremely rare work is noticed in the 
Censura Literaria, vol. vii., p. 209. In this edition there is a cut of the 
printer’s sign, with the motto " Post tenebras lux.” 




ASSOCIATION-PARTICULAR. 


59 


Revocation . 

Certain rules need not be given for the recovery 
of ideas, except that ideas are often recovered by 
discussing a few questions in the mind concerning 
subject, quantity, site, attributes, motion, &c. If 
you cannot remember by any of these means, be 
no longer solicitous about it—it will come to hand 
beyond expectation when something near it is 
sought after, unless you have too lightly appre¬ 
hended it. 


CHAP. IV. 


LOCALITY. 

This is another important principle involved in 
my System of Mnemonics. The topical system 
of the ancients has been adverted to, so that only 
a few remarks will be made before I proceed to 
detail my arrangement of Localities. To preserve 
distinctness in the representation of this subject, 
I have reserved remarks on the local arrangements 
of other Mnemonists for another place. This is 
a subject of great interest, and its importance 
seems to be pretty well understood by old as well 
as more recent English writers. Addison, in his 
dialogue on the usefulness of the ancient medals, 
speaks of “ The Medallist ” that “ upon the first 
naming of an Emperor, will immediately tell you 
his age, family, and life. To remember when he 
enters in the succession, they only consider in 
what part of the cabinet he lies, and, by running 
over in their thoughts such a particular drawer, 
will give you an account of all the remarkable 
parts of his reign.” 

That locality, or, the connection of ideas with 
places, is a most efficacious medium of remem- 


LOCALITY. 


61 


brance, is understood by most people, and is quite 
sufficient to encourage us in the task of arranging 
our thoughts, and systematizing mental operations 
on sound principles. We have other valuable no¬ 
tices of the principle, which I have endeavoured 
to work out. Foster, in his Essays, page 12, says, 
“ Places and things which have an association with 
any of the events or feelings of past life, will 
greatly assist the recollection of them. A man of 
strong association finds memoirs of himself already 
written in the places where he had conversed with 
happiness or misery.” 

“ If an old man wished to animate for a moment 
the languid and faded ideas which he retains of 
his youth, he might walk with his crutch across 
the green, where he once played with his compa¬ 
nions, who are now, probably, laid to repose in a 
spot not far off. An aged saint may meet again 
some of the effects of his early piety, in the place 
where he first thought it happy to pray. A walk 
in a meadow, the sight of a bank of flowers, per¬ 
haps even of some one flow r er, a landscape with 
the tints of autumn, the descent into a valley, the 
brow of a mountain, the house where a friend has 
been met or has resided, or has died, have often 
produced a much more lively recollection of our 
past feelings, and of the objects and events that 
caused them, than the most perfect description 
could have done.” 


62 


LOCALITY. 


Draw upon the wall an X, and you have the 
five: local points of ancient usage. 

4 l 2 

or 3 

5 4 5 

As there are generally four walls to a room, we 
should thus have 20 compartments. This mode 
of division was made through all the rooms of a 
house until compartments enough were procured 
for any subject or particular scheme. 

This division was of great importance, but not 
sufficiently extended for many purposes. By this 
arrangement, the 5, 10, 15, 20 places would be 
last points, and referred to directly for the purpose 
of recollecting an object or subject, placed there 
in the fancy.. In like manner, 3, 8, 13, 18, 23, 
etc^ would always be centres in the first, second, 
third wall, etc., in the order in which we chose to 
number those walls, beginning with the opposite 
wall,, or rather with the left-hand one. 

I am particular in my explanation, as ultimate 
success in the acquisition of any system must de¬ 
pend upon a perfect knowledge of the first prin¬ 
ciples*. 

By this time you are prepared to understand a 
more extended division of a space into nine com¬ 
partments (vide PL 1, Fig. LI),. 

* Quintilian, in his Institutes, book x. advises “ Ut pauca 
primum complectamur animo,” and with a thorough understand¬ 
ing to proceed to make additions. 



LOCALITY. 


63 


When squares are divided into nine parts, I call 
each part a subsquare ; as, the first subsquare, the 
second subsquare, etc " And if one of the sub¬ 
squares be divided into nine parts, (vide Pl. l y 
Fig. 5,) call its divisions places a as, the first place, 
second place,, etc. 

There is a division of the floor and ceding into 
subsquares: if these be again divided, they are 
called places. The walls are called subsquares, 
because they are formed, as will be seen, by the 
subsquares of the floor. 

Mnemonists have used various divisions. A 
MS. in the Sloane Collection of the British Mu¬ 
seum, dated 15/83* by Thomas Watson, student of 
the law at Oxford, records his division of a wall 
into 5, 32, or 100, compartments, reckoning the 
latter by tens, with the same numerical division 
as Fig. 11. The division into ten parts is some¬ 
times of limited application^. because teachers of 
artificial memory have assigned the same relative 
external position,, for every tenth place, z. e. they 
have chosen a part outside the second place in 
every subsquare for the Nos. 10 r 20, 30, 40, etc. 
This greatly incommodes in many cases where 
numerical position is important, as in Chronology 
and prevents our making one room a connected 
whole. 

The following is an original contrivance for ar- 


64 


LOCALITY. 


ranging 100 distinct places in a room, with sub¬ 
squares for tens arranged numerically, like all the 
rest of the figures. This arrangement is suited to 
every important purpose. 

The divisions of a square into 5 and 9 sub¬ 
squares, or 10, one being external, are useful, and 
may be frequently employed severally, or in com¬ 
bination, as the subject requires; but the method 
below presents advantages which the others can¬ 
not claim, and when rightly understood, becomes 
of easy application. 

Let the floor of a room be divided into nine 
subsquares, as in Fig. II. This arrangement is 
supposed to be well known from what has been 
said before; then suppose the subsquares, corre¬ 
sponding to the even numbers, 2, 4, 6, 8, to be 
moveable pannels that hide circles in Fig. II, but 
when drawn out in Fig. Ill, exposes them to view. 
Let the pannels drawn away from the four colored 
circles be turned up perpendicularly at the base 
of each wall, to shew what numbered subsquare 
each wall is, as they will stand flat against the 
sides of the room, and may be supposed large 
enough to cover the whole of the walls, so that 
they may be numbered 2, 4, 6, 8 subsquares, each 
divided into 9 places. Let the left-hand wall al¬ 
ways be No/4 subsquare. Let No. 2 subsquare 
be the wall opposite to ourselves, ( i. e, the wall 


Flate I. 




Fig. 2. 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

c 9 

3 


Fig. 4. 



1. 

2 

3 


j. 

7 

3 


4 

4 

5 

6 

6 


7 

S 

9 


7 

S 

9 




Fig.S. 































































































■ 



1 





■ • ' 


' - i 





• ' 


































J?la£e 4. 




^ room in Perspective witfvlOO facerl poirvts, Vide LOC/t Lt TY. 



































































■\/i ■ 

■ 

. .. •• .. 



LOCALITY. 


65 


opposite to the one where we are always supposed 
to stand,) containing places from 21 to 29; No. 20 
place being in the second subsquare of the ceiling. 
No. 4 subsquare contains places from 41 to 49; 
No. 40 being in the fourth subsquare of the ceiling. 
So of the sixth and eighth sub squares. 

Thus every locality is of easy reference. Look 
again at the floor containing subsquares 1, 3, 5, 7 
9, and four colored circles. The circles have only 
a negative value in a room, and serve the purpose 
of distinctly separating the subsquares 1, 3, 5, 7> 9. 
Each of the subsquares on the floor is divided into 
nine places or compartments. 

Divide thus for the purpose of forming a dis¬ 
tinct idea of the whole; nevertheless, the fifth 
place or centre in each of the subsquares 1, 3, 5, 
7, 9, might be called the centres of association, 
round which, by rules before given, might be ar¬ 
ranged all that is required to be located on the 
floor. 

To make greater clearness in the division of 
compartments, place the initial letter of the sub¬ 
ject studied on the floor, as in Fig. 4. Put c for 
Chemistry, and it will serve us with places of asso¬ 
ciation or attachment on the floor, which is most 
of all available for the purposes of Locality. 

If we have filled one room with any subject 
whose initial letter is c, in using another room, 

F 


66 


LOCALITY. 


there is a distinction to be made: call the first, 
the c of gold; the second, the c of silver, of iron, 
and so on; or, lay on the floor, if it should be pre¬ 
ferred, a symbol of the letter as given in the alpha¬ 
betical and numerical symbols. We shall thus 
effect a complete distinctness of division for the 
most extended subject. Let what has been said 
be well thought of, then what follows will be easily 
applied. 

The fifth sub square in the centre, with its nine 
places, (vide Fig. 3 & 4) is to be viewed as the 
floor of a little open temple, whose pillars are of 
gold, silver, iron, stone, marble, wood, brass, etc. 
This may serve to distinguish the rooms also. If 
we suppose the pillars to be of gold, they must be 
all of gold, etc. This renders the fifth subsquare 
in every room a separate and distinct locality. 
There is no change of the form of the central ob¬ 
ject, which may always be preserved, but a change 
of the materials of the pillars, which are associated 
with the objects located there. Individuals may 
often vary these minute details with advantage to 
themselves. 

Some so multiply rooms, or squares, as to form 
an unconnected whole; and some so crowd one 
room as to have 1000 places by subdivision; but 
none systematize as shewn above, either in respect 
of 100 places, or the arrangement of the ceiling 


LOCALITY. 


67 


with its subsquares for tens, or the fifth subsquare, 
which is on the floor, with its miniature temple, 
and which is distinguished, as well as the room, 
by the nature of its pillars, or the sliding sub¬ 
squares which give numbers to the walls, etc. 

The sides and floor, then, being arranged, for 
all cases , the ceiling must be noticed; and this 
matter is soon disposed of. Divide the whole 
square of the ceiling into nine subsquares—1, 2, 
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, for the Nos. 10, 20, 30, 40; then 
let the subsquare 5 be divided into nine places for 
the Nos. up to ten; then continue with the Nos. 
60, 70> 80, 90, as in Fig. 5, PL I. The fifth sub¬ 
square, which is divided in Fig. 5, is opposite the 
floor of the temple, and occupies the same space, 
so as to correspond with it. But you might ask, 
Where is No. 50 to be placed, as the fifth sub¬ 
square of the ceiling is occupied by Nos. 1 to 9 ? 
I answer, The temple has a pediment, that is, a 
triangular space at the top, (vide Fig. 6) in which 
No. 50 can be placed with advantage. 

We will now enumerate the subsquares, etc. in 
their order, and the numbers contained in them. 
Remember, each number is represented by one 
place , by agreement, for ever; and the places once 
learnt, are ready for every subject. 

Suppose yourself to be standing at the entrance 
of the room, anywhere in that line which has the 


68 


LOCALITY. 


dot, (vide PI. 1, Fig. 3) as the entrance to the 
room is always supposed to be in that line, or, 
rather, you are supposed to stand at the entrance 
of the room, and count your places according to 
the following Table. 


To understand this Table, you have only to remem¬ 
ber that the floor and ceiling of a room, as squares, arc 
divided into nine subsquares. Then, that all the sub¬ 
squares of the floor are divided, each into nine parts, 
and that four of these subsquares, viz. 2, 4, 6, 8, serve 
as walls, by being drawn out from the floor. There is 
only one subsquare of the ceiling that is divided, that 
is the central one, No. 5, for the Nos. 1 to 9. 


Nos. 


1 to 9 
10 

11 to 19 
20 

21 to 29 


I 


30 

31 to 39 
40 

41 to 49 
50 

51 to 59 
60 

61 to 69 


Pi. 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 


6 { 

3 

6 { 

3 ( 

5 { 


Fifth subsquare in the ceiling, divided into nine 
places. (Taking the top of the room first.) 

First subsquave of the ceiling that corresponds with 
the first subsquare on the floor. 

First subsquare on the floor,divided into nine places. 

Second subsquare on the ceiling that corresponds 
to the second subsquare on the floor. 

Second subsquare on the floor, drawn out and fixed 
against the front wall, and divided into nine places. 

Third subsquare on the ceiling that corresponds to 
the third subsquare on the floor. 


3 Third subsquare on the floor divided into nine places 

g ( Fourth subsquare on the ceiling corresponding to 
( the fourth subsquare on the floor, 

o ( Fourth subsquare on the floor, drawn out and fixed 
( againsttheleft-hand wall and divided into 9 places. 

6 ON THE PEDIMENT OF THE TEMPLE. 

3 < Fifth subsquare on the floor, the base of the tem- 

4 ( pie divided into nine places. 

f. $ Sixth subsquare on the ceiling corresponding to 
l the sixth subsquare of the floor. 

„ < Sixth subsquare on the floor, drawn out and fixed 

6 ^ against the right hand wall and divided into 9places 


LOCALITY. 


69 


Nos. 

70 

71 to 79 
80 

81 to 89 
90 

91 to 99 


PI. Fig. 

g ( Seventh subsquare of the ceiling corresponding to 
l the seventh subsquare of the floor. 

. 3 Seventh subsquare on the floor divided into 9 places 

^ < Eighth subsquare on the ceiling corresponding to 
l to the eighth subsquare on the floor. 

C Eighth subsquare on the floor drawn out and fixed 
. 3 < against the wall in which you are supposed to 

{ stand, and divided into nine places. 

- (Ninth subsquare on the ceiling corresponding to 
* i £ the ninth subsquare on the floor. 

. 3 Ninth subsquare on the floor divided into 9 places. 


Again I say each No. has that locality assigned 
it which it must always keep. 

Thus I have arranged 100 places. When you 
understand how to divide one room, you have a 
sample for all rooms, and for locating every thing 
you may have to learn of Chronology, History, 
Grammar, Systematic Tables, the Divisions of 
Natural History, Botany, etc.; first putting it un¬ 
der some Mnemonical form, (vide association) 
according to the nature of the subject. It will be 
found, in practice, that the minutest details can 
be at once referred to with the greatest certainty. 
The task of learning this localizing system will 
amply repay the student in the saving of months 
and years of labour. 

Any subject may be first located on what I have 
designated natural points. This is a most 
important and original part of this Local System. 
It possesses great capabilities, and is of very easy 


70 


LOCALITY, 


application. It may be used with the previous 
local arrangements, or separately. 

EXERCISES ON THE LOCALITIES. 

Standing at the entrance of a room, or what you might 
choose to call the entrance, find the Localities 


10 

20 

30 

40 

50 

60 

70 

80 

90 

100 

3 

13 

23 

33 

43 

53 

63 

73 

83 

93 

5 

15 

25 

35 

45 

55 

65 

75 

85 

95 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

0 

9 

19 

29 

39 

49 

59 

69 

79 

89 

99 

11 

22 

33 

44 

55 

66 

77 

88 

99 

1 

7 

28 

39 

50 

61 

7*2 

83 

94 

5 

16 

19 

39 

59 

79 

98 

23 

49 

69 

89 

9 

55 

64 

73 

82 

91 

80 

72 

63 

54 

43 


CHAP. V. 


NATURAL POINTS. 

To shew clearly what I mean by natural points, I 
have selected for illustration the Chronology of 
the Kings of England, and the History of England. 

The constant division of every thing into nine 
places, as practised by some, whether the subject 
admits of it or not, tends to deprive them of the 
highest advantages of the local system, because it 
is carrying it to an extreme by points of unvary¬ 
ing uniformity that are less and less distinctive, 
not as points absolute, but as points relative, when 
encreased to any extent. I refer to the divisions 
of objects into places or parts, not to the divisions 
of squares. The square as in PI. I. Fig. 2, is usu¬ 
ally employed by all modern local Mnemonists, 
for History, Chronology, and other departments 
of knowledge. The constantly recurring square 
obliges them either to provide an arbitrary symbol 
or furniture, not in the least allied to the subject 
which the memory has to retain. The old division 
of the room contains the Kings of England, with 
only two spare places. My arrangement of the 
room secures two spare subsquares, and instead 


72 


NATURAL POINTS. 


of having nine places filled, in each square I put 
something connected with the subject in each 
subsquare, that contains in two instances only- 
three kings. The greatest number in any sub¬ 
square is eight, and the royal families are preserved 
distinct. This advantage does not belong to the 
nine divided square. There is another advantage 
belonging to the use of the natural points, which 
is very important, and that is, there is space fur¬ 
nished in connection with Chronology for the 
whole Ideatypic History of England. 

The mode will now be described. First, draw 
symbols from the subject according to its nature. 
The initial letters of the first four families strike 
me as especially appropriate for the Kings of Eng¬ 
land, as three of them present the requisite num¬ 
ber of points (vide Plate II. Fig. 1). 

N contains four points for the four kings of the 
Norman line. P is divided into nine parts, as 
there are eight kings belonging to the Plantagenets. 
L presents three places for the house of Lancaster. 
Y three places for the house of York, n, p, l, y, 
with two vowels, is no play , which a boy’s fancy 
would lay hold of. 

Without proceeding farther, we will suppose the 
N to be put in the first subsquare of a room. The 
O subsquare on the ceiling is occupied by the 
Saxons. P is put in the second subsquare, L in 


NATURAL POINTS. 


73 


the third, Y in the fourth. Thus we have arranged 
for us localities stamped, as it were, in the very 
names of the families whose history is to be re¬ 
corded. 

So well do these arrangements answer, that 
many of my pupils have committed the whole of 
the dates of the kings to memory, and one or two 
historical facts associated with them, in half an 
hour. 

To proceed: take the first square in L (vide 
PL II. Fig. 1.) to combine Chronology and His¬ 
tory, (vide Fig. 2.) and I will detail a mode of 
instructing pupils so as to produce astonishing 
results. 

In Fig. 2, there is a boat and a wave. Put be¬ 
fore these words the word enguard. Other 
words that have the same commencing sound and 
four consonants (the number required in this in¬ 
stance) would do as well. 

ENGUARD, BOAT , WAVE (1399). 

From the first syllable of enguard we get 
the initial sound of Henry, and by the four con¬ 
sonants in the same word, we are able to 
recollect that it is Henry the fourth. Then, 
boat , wave , the words associated with enguard, 
give us the date of the king’s accession, as 
above, 1399 (vide the scale of numbers). The 
sense is, that Hotspur, in the spur of the mo- 


74 


NATURAL POINTS. 


ment, is giving up the cause of Henry, as repre¬ 
sented in the man by the tree, trying to set adrift 
the boat. 

This is an original mode of associating the name , 
order of succession , and date , with historical facts. 
This mode of managing the name of the king, I 
have adopted to exclude the nonsense that is fre¬ 
quently introduced. I have now words at my 
disposal, that will make sensible connection with 
the History, as will be seen in a further descrip¬ 
tion of Fig. 2, 

Henry the fourth’s was a troublous reign, as 
the wave tossing the boat indicates. One of our 
poets has said, in reference to this king, “ Uneasy 
is the head that wears a crown.” We may easily 
imagine some name for the boat, to remind us of 
Whittington and the ship in which he traded, 
call it the Cat. The boat was first fastened to 
the tree by a man, to shew that Hotspur first sus¬ 
tained Henry’s fortune, but now, in the spur of 
the moment, he intends to set the boat adrift 
upon a troublous sea.— The application of this 
is apparent. The man, Hotspur, has a saw in 
his hand, to saw down the tree, and cut off the 
boat’s security. Sawing the tree refers to Sawtree, 
the first English martyr. Behind the man is a 
building, which we may associate with the picture 
for Guildhall , that was built in this reign. At the 


NATURAL POINTS. 


75 


side of this building is a gate, hung about with 
chains, referring to Newgate, founded by Whit¬ 
tington. A gauntlet fixed in the stern of the boat, 
refers to Henry’s family and position; that he 
was of John of Gaunt, and that there were others 
before him in the succession, etc. 

We might introduce much more, e,g. a choice 
cow comes from the glen , to drink of the troubled 
waters; referring to Chaucer, Gower, and Glen- 
dower, who flourished in this reign. The rest the 
teacher or his pupil will supply and associate from 
his own reading. Numerous examples will be 
found in the Chronology of the Kings of England. 


CHAP. VI. 


NUMBER. 

Another most important principle now comes 
under consideration, useful to all classes of men 
who employ the Arabic numerals, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. 

These being signs of signs , must be brought 
under forms that admit of association. Letters 
which are substituted for figures, are also signs of 
signs; but they are a very different class of signs, 
and admit of an arrangement that brings us within 
the sphere of the most familiar objects. 

The ancients used letters for figures. They had 
no Arithmetical signs. Dr. Grey, among the 
moderns, first applied letters to Mnemonics. His 
plan was much thought of at the time, and pos¬ 
sesses some value, on account of the principle it 
involves; yet great difficulties lie in the way of its 
application: e. g. these technical words are almost 
as difficult to remember as the numbers for which 
they are substituted. 

381.1921.1491.7967 

teib. aneb. afna. pousoi. 

Terrse magnitude) 5 Termagnit.eso.klaum. 

Magnitude of the Earth { 264,856,000,000 Cubic miles. 







NUMBER. 


77 


The design is good, and this must be apparent 
to a superficial observer; for who could remember 
a series of figures like the following without con¬ 
trivance ? 

793730383799867379. 

If consonants be substituted for the figures, and 
any vowels be added to complete the sense, it will 
make a phrase, as in this instance (vide Plate II. 
Fig. 3, for the numerical scale employed here). 

“ Know then this truth (enough for man to know).” 

7 93730 38 3 7 9986737 9. 

Such phrases, Ideatyped, are easily retained in 
the memory. 

Elphinstone’s table of affinity, or analogical 
association of sounds, and other sources, have 
enabled me to arrange a table nearly allied to the 
genius of many languages or dialects. 


We must agree that the following letters shall 
represent certain figures. 

SIBILANTS or hissing sounds, s.c.z (scfrc.).put for 0 

TARTAT f Simple. b.p. „ 1 

(Aspirate.... v.w.f.ph, gh as f, and 

gii as w. „ 9 

GUTTURALS (■ Simple.c.K.Q.ohard 7 f s . ubsti ‘ 

or < Aspirate. ch. gh „ /Represen 2 

Hard sounds £ Compd. sibilating, etc. x.sk.sq ck Jtatives of 

dental 1 » 3 

( Aspirates. j.g.ch.tch and \ 

__ 1 cognates tu su f . 

COMPOUN D < sibpating Aspirates. sh and cog- r ” 
f nates ti.si.zi. sen l 









78 


NUMBER. 


LIQUIDS. .. 

(n (augh & ougli as r) 

Or thus:— 



LABIAL. 

GUTTURAL. 

DENTAL. 


1 

2 

3 

SIBILANTS. 

0 

COMPOUND. 

4 

LINGUAL 

LIQUID. 

5 

LABIAL 

LIQUID. 

6 


DENTAL 

LIQUID. 

7 

GUTTURAL 

LIQUID. 

8 

LABIAL. 

9 


1 and 9 Labials are opposite each other, as 3 and 
7 Dentals, and as 2 and 8 Gutturals are; Dia¬ 
gonals would pass through the odd numbers. 

In PI. II. Fig. 3, the whole is arranged in sub¬ 
squares, and the consonants have their localities 
assigned them according to the figures they are 
intended to represent. 

To assign to each division as wide a range as 
possible, I make ng and dg also represent 4. 
These with j make the word judging, which is 
444. y and h, as a separate consonant, may be 
used anywhere , but they do not represent a num¬ 
ber. Throughout, for purposes of convenience, y 
may always be regarded as a vowel, and w always 
as a consonant (vide No. 9, above). 


ccxi©©* 


















NUMBER. 


79 


There is an aim in the whole contrivance to 
combine something like philosophical order with 
conventional practices. In doing this, there is 
always danger of leaning too much on one side. 
Attempts have been made, by some writers, to 
determine the number of distinct sounds which 
the human voice is capable of producing. If we 
consider a little, we shall perceive they are essen¬ 
tially infinite, and admit of no limitation. It is 
necessary, however, to employ symbols of sound, 
and to arrange them; and it is worth while at¬ 
tending to the various opinions that belong to the 
subject, that we may derive advantage where we 
can. 

The result of my enquiries is given in the scale, 
PI. II. Fig. 3. The pupil has only to consider how 
each subsquare stands, and to know its place from 
what he has learnt previously, and then what con¬ 
sonants I have assigned to each of these sub¬ 
squares ; so that when figures are to be committed 
to memory, certain consonants can be substituted 
for those figures, and any vowels added to com¬ 
plete the w r ords and make sense. The task of the 
learner is really a very simple one. The order of 
the consonants, apart from the distribution accord¬ 
ing to sound, is simple, for it runs with the alpha¬ 
bet. b, c, d, is 1, 2, 3; J is 4, and l, m, n, r, is 
5, 6 , 7, 8 . The last four may be remembered by 


80 


NUMBER. 


inserting two vowels, and making the word Limner . 
w is 9, and the last. The rest of the consonants 
may be traced by the sounds which they have 
analogous to this or that letter, that may be con¬ 
sidered the principal one of each subsquare. By 
omitting the vowels in our series, we can use them 
where we please, because they have no numerical 
value assigned them. 

The vowels are like ligaments, and the conso¬ 
nants like parts of a skeleton that require to be 
held together. 

Fenaigle and Goodluck have adopted letters as 
near as possible like the figures. Fenaigle put 
t for 1, on account of their similarity; n also for 
2, because two strokes were required to make it ; 
m for 3, and so on. Beniowski seems to have fol¬ 
lowed Feinagle in his scale. Dr. Crook followed 
the order of the alphabet, by placing 

BC for 1 
DF „ 2 

GH „ 3 

Here the letters assigned to each number are 
not cognates. A difficulty will be found in this 
and in all similarly constructed tables, when we 
pass from a letter not suited for a word, and try to 
bring in another, because the sounds of the letters 
that are placed together are unlike. This is an 
important consideration, well known to those who 
have tried both ways, yet hardly understood, per- 















- - I 









Plate II. 




Ty.I 



1 L 

2 r 

□ 

l -J I-? 

a 




























































NUMBER. 


81 


haps, by those who have only used one. The 
letters that belong to the several subsquares may 
be variously remembered, for the index conso¬ 
nants, or the principal consonants of the sub¬ 
squares that have even numbers, are contained in 
the word cashmere. These subsquares may also 
have a circle drawn in them, or they may be co¬ 
lored. c or g (both being hard sounds, as c in 
cash; g in got , gash , etc., and not as g in age,) 
may be distinguished by the color green; sh, or 
ch soft, by a chocolate color; m, by amber; and 
r, by red. 

I will now make a particular application of the 
Scale, (PL II. Fig. 3.) which I have designated 
Ideatyphonicon, from its connection with Idea- 
typics, and its supplying us with ideas in the 
substitution of consonants, arranged as nearly as 
possible according to sound. Suppose a series of 
figures to be learnt immediately—39,17, 64,38, fl, 
—refer, mentally, to the scale (the scale, or the 
table from which it is derived, must be committed 
to memory) for the subsquare containing the num¬ 
ber you want. Then you may adopt the method 
used by Mrs. Slater in her Chronology, or Mr. 
Goodluck in his,—that is, let each letter, substi¬ 
tuted for a figure, be the initial letter of a word. 
This mode, however, must be used in close con¬ 
nection with objects. I have found that by en- 

G 


82 


NUMBER. 


creasing the number of objects, under certain re¬ 
gulations, the recollection is assisted, while mere 
words rarely have the same effect, however well 
applied they may be; and when those applications 
originate with the individual who uses them, the 
result is still very uncertain. Another mode is, to 
take the two first consonants of a word. In 3 
subsquare you find d, t, th. Take one of the 
three consonants, and for the next figure, 9, take 
one of the consonants in subsquare 9. Then make 
a word of these two consonants. Never mind how 
many letters there are in the word you employ, 
only let the two consonants that are chosen be 
first in it, as they only will be considered the re¬ 
presentatives of the numbers. 

Taking the figures two by two, we have a series 
of words any of which we may adopt. We have 
here five rows of words answering, from left to 
right, to the row of figures above them. 


3 9 

1 7 

6 4 

3 8 

7 1 

Towel 

painted 

much 

deer 

nabob 

Down 

bonnet 

meshes 

draught 

nobody 

Tough 

pint 

matches 

train 

nibble 

Thief 

pincers 

manger 

terror 

nap 

Dove 

punt 

motion 

threat 

nip 


This method is adopted for quickness, as it will 
be seen hundreds of words are at our disposal 
that we can instantly associate, reading them off 


NUMBER. 


83 


in the order of the numbers. If speed be the ob¬ 
ject, three figures at a time will not do so well, as 
there is then a smaller choice of words. Five 
words may be associated in each subsquare, if you 
wish to locate them in any room, and in every 
square we may put 50 words with ease; so that if 
each word be numbered, the word and the number 
can be given in every instance. This, however, is 
not the mode to be adopted for committing to 
memory in study and in a serious way. We must 
employ a little more labour to arrange phrases, 
and then the matter in connection will be indelibly 
fixed in the mind, and space and time economised. 

Take the series of figures above and make a 
phrase thus:— 

( 3917643871 ) 

( A thief, a paynim cheat, ran by. ) 

Here every consonant, or the equivalent to a 
single figure, is to be considered as a numeral 
representative. 

We may fix the events of a whole year, register 
appointments, enrol the payment of bills, and 
other mercantile concerns, on ideal almanacs, 
made by taking four walls, and dividing each into 
three stripes, each stripe being divided into three 
parts. We may take the wall as a subsquare 
divided into nine places, and again into subplaces 
for the days of the month. Suppose we wish to 


84 


NUMBER. 


remember an occurrence or circumstance of busi¬ 
ness or pleasure, connected with the 25 th of April, 
we should take the figures 4, 25, (fourth month, 
25 th day,) and change them into letters. These 
would be sh, k, l; of this we might make she¬ 
kel, or any other word that would associate with 
the nature of the event. We can make ourselves 
many ideal repositories to enchain and fix passing 
incidents, whether of an amusing character or 
connected with money matters, dates, &c. 

Other valuable modes of employing the princi¬ 
ple will suggest themselves to the student. How 
advantageously the system may be employed in 
the business of life, our every-day concerns, to 
remember the No. of a cab or other vehicle, the 
number of a bank note, a number of articles that 
we have to purchase, many persons that we ought 
to call upon, etc. etc. Arithmetical Tables, Statis¬ 
tics, Mathematical Formulae, etc., are instanced 
in the examples. 

There are certain “ Discipline*,” however, con¬ 
nected with these things, (the Mathematics) as 
well as with Language, in which memory is but 
a handmaid, and holds an inferior place to the 
judgment. Through these Disciplines, mind is 
considered as passing to attain a condition of right 


* At some of the Colleges, the papers are headed Discipline. 


NUMBER. 


85 


judgment, or certain and correct habitudes of 
thought. The first four rules of Arithmetic, which 
are generally considered as elementary, are resolv¬ 
able into still simpler forms, through which the 
mind should be led. This would give an ability to 
go through a multiplication table of great extent, 
without either learning it by rote or by Ideatypics. 

To those, however, who would learn it by this 
System, it is an easy affair. A few squares, sub¬ 
squared and divided into places, in which objects 
are supposed to be put, made out of the letters 
that are the representatives of the figures to be 
remembered, settles the business. There are 
hundreds of tables and thousands of figures con¬ 
nected with different branches of Education, that 
require to be learnt by rote, and are used as ma¬ 
terials for the exercise of the judgment. These 
will be the first object of the teacher in employing 
this System. Let no false exercises or false know¬ 
ledge be committed to memory. Men have de¬ 
vised systems of Logic to aid us in thinking right¬ 
ly, because of our erring judgment; let us, then, 
not strengthen wrong tendencies. It does not 
follow that you can recollect the real because you 
can retain the false , as some pretend, any more 
than it would follow that you can recollect the face 
of a person because you are able to remember a 
distorted image of the man, in fact, a caricature 


86 


NUMBER. 


more striking than the reality. If a system be 
good, it is wrong not to exclude from it every 
thing that is of questionable value. I intend to 
give no false stimulus to the public mind, as an 
enticement to the practice of that which I have 
here presented. My duty, as a Teacher, does not 
allow me to encourage morbid feelings, but to give 
a plain, unvarnished statement of the principles 
of my System and of my practice. I shall be con¬ 
tent to lead others to rapid progress in real know¬ 
ledge, and not to presume upon it by what I can 
shew of advancement in that which is false. 

Under the head of examples, we are enabled to 
introduce subjects that are likely to solve the most 
important queries of the learner. 


Beauty . . 

Bought (as R) 

Bow . . . 

Cow . . . 

Cough (as f) 

Caught (as r) 

Casque .... 22 
Catch .... 24 
Daughter . . 3838 
Flash .... 954 
Friendship . 987341 


EXAMPLES. 

Girl.285 

Goose .... 20 
Age (g soft) . . 4 

Hedging ... 44 

Jew.49 

King .... 24 

Language . . . 544 
Mantua-maker 673628 
Numb .... 76 
Knight .... 73 
Prejudice . . 18430 


13 

183 

19 

29 

29 

283 

22 


Quench . . . 
Bapture ? 

^ (tupron. ch)$ 

Thatch . . . 
Thing . . . 
Thought (as r) . 
Taught . . . 
Vinegar . . . 
Weeping . . . 

Xenophon . . 
Zany .... 


274 

8148 

005 
34 
. 34 
383 
383 
9728 
914 
2797 
. 07 


EXAMPLES. 


].—The distance of the moon from the earth is 236847 
miles, or (Get home, urchin,) associate moon 
and urchin. 

2.—Muskets invented, a.d. 1621 (Plug up). 

When a musket is not used, they put a cork in 
the muzzle. 











NUMBER 


87 


3. —Numbers necessary in computing areas of circles: 

3*1416, or 3*1415926536 (A deep ship . Leave 
a camel at home). 

Note.—A circle brings to mind the earth , with a deep 
ship sailing round it; and then comes the idea of the 
disadvantage , or the uselessness, of having a camel 
on board. The transition of the thought is easy, and 
the result certain. 

4. —A great source of error in the statement of tempe¬ 

rature, is the different modes of estimation used 
by scientific men in different countries; as, 
boiling point.— Fahrenheit. Centigrade. Reaumur. De Lisle. 

212°(cubic). 100°(passes).80°(rose). 0°. 
freezing POiNT.-32°(thick). 0°. 0°. 150 0 (beU*) 

Associate the words in whatever way you please, 
or select others. 

5 . —A few dates of important facts*. 

For a compass, .a boat seek. (1302) The compass invented, 
glass. maiming . ( 664) Glass first used in Eng¬ 

land. 

Cannon at Cressy. by it dies.( 1330) Cannon first used at 

Cressy. 

For coffee. buy milk. (1652) Coffee introduced. 

Magna Charta procured by a Cabal (1215) of Barons. 
Cards in vented, by it weep. (1391) 

6 . —Wales, a big rock, (1282) quite subdued by the 

arms (860) of Edw. I., after an independence of 
860 years. 

7 . —Imagine a piece of moss (60) to be put on some 

part of Westminster Abbey, and it will bring to 
mind the number of years that edifice took in 
building. 

8 . —For Latitudes and Longitudes. An acquaintance 

with the Geographicon will enuble any one to 


* Many of my pupils can give a date for almost every particular cir¬ 
cumstance in Modern History, with the births and deaths of all the re¬ 
markable men. On this subject alone they have always at hand 10,000 
figures; and from themselves I have it, that they find it more dijicult to 
forget than to remember. 




88 


NUMBER 


decide upon the Longitude being East or West* 
or the Latitude North or South. Let the Lati¬ 
tude always precede the Longitude. Then the 
following is the Lat. and Lon. of Jerusalem . 

LAT. 30° (dep endance) 47' (shunning) N. 

LON. 35° (j\ells you). .20'(causes) E. of Jerusalem’s 

[decline. 

Note.—My idea in connection with this, is the continual 
departure of the Jews from GOD. 


EXERCISES on NUMBER. 

1.—Berzelius calcined human bones, 100 parts of which 


contained 

Phosphate of Lime.81*9 parts 

Fluate of Lime .3 

Lime.10 

Phosphate of Magnesia.. 1*1 

Soda.2 

Carbonic Acid.2 


100 

Ideatype the above Table. 

2. —What is the specific gravity of Quicksilver, Chlo¬ 

rine, Sulphur, etc.? 

3. —What is the Lat. and Lon. of London, Paris, Ma¬ 

drid, Amsterdam, Berlin, Berne, Rome, etc.? 

4. —Take six points about a mill for the different mea¬ 

sures of a mile , five points about a cur for the 
different measures of an acre , four points about 
the next object, and so on till you have associ¬ 
ated and located all that belongs to Square 
Measure. 

5. —What is the height of the mountains Snowden, 

Cader Idris, Vesuvius, iEtna, Bernard, Blanc, 
etc. ? 

6. —What is the length of the Thames, Seine, Tagus, 

Rhone, Rhine, Don, Volga, Euphrates,Indus,etc.? 







NUMBER 


89 


7*—Put into Ideatypics the following numbers frequently 
used in calculation:— 


Square of 3-14159265359 ... 

Area of a Circle to diameter 1 . : 

Surface of a Sphere to radius 1 
Solidity of a Sphere to radius 1 . 

Square of a circumference of a circle x 

One hour . 

Twelve hours. 

Mean diameter of the Earth 
Mean radius of the Earth . 

A degree on the Equator 

English mile. 

Geographical mile . . . 

Time of the diurnal rotation of the) 

Earth.) 

Length of the Solar or tropical year 
„ „ Seconds’ Pendulum) 

at London ...... ) 

Force of Gravity at London • . =r 32-1908 feet. 


= 9-869604399639 
= -78539816339744S 

= 12-566370614 
= 4-188790205 
•07957747= area 
= 3600 seconds 
= 43200 „ 

= 7912 miles 
= 20887680 
= 365144 feet 
= 5280 feet 
= 6075-6 feet 

= 861640-908 sec. 

= 365-24223 days 
= 39-1393 inches 











CHAP. VII. 


APPLICATION OP THE PRINCIPLES TO TIIE 
LEARNING OF A LANGUAGE. 

The affinities of any language must be first 
sought out, then there must be an endeavour to 
systematize similarities, to trace variances, and to 
bring them under some form. When system¬ 
atized, the Latin, a seven years* task for a boy, 
might be taught to some in six months, to others 
in three. They should know more of the language 
than is generally known on leaving school, and 
their judgments should be more improved. 

A perfect knowledge of the Genders and declen¬ 
sion of Nouns, the conjugation of Verbs, and other 
things, which may be considered the initials of 
Language, (the teacher’s drudgery,) may be taught 
in a few hours, in separate lessons: I speak from 
my own experience. 

Let it be understood, however, by all readers 
of this Work, that something more is needed in 
the acquisition of a language than mere memory: 
there must be an exercise of judgment and a real 
activity of the thinking powers, then the progress 
of the pupil is rapid and certain. Men are not to 


APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES, ETC. 91 


be taught as if they were mere automata, and had 
no occasion to exercise their faculties. I have 
known men deluded as it were into the expecta¬ 
tion that they were to be provided with a sort of 
talismanic key, that would at once open every 
door of difficulty. The reader must only expect 
to find a toilsome road diminished to a fraction of 
its former length, by the exercise of his mind in 
the application of the principles of this System, 
and his own practical judgment. 

1. —We have first to learn words for practice. 

The way of acquiring the words of a lan- 
gauge is given under the head of Association. 

2. —Learn the forms of the Noun. 

Take the five Latin declensions as an ex¬ 
ample, and arrange them under some forms, 
and locate them, if possible, where you can 
occasionally give a passing glance at them, 
and your recollection of the whole will be 
permanent. I have Ideatyped all the Latin 
declensions, but I have no space for them, 
except the mere forms of the five declen¬ 
sions singular (vide PI. in. Fig. 3). 

GENDERS. 

Of those who have taught the genders by Mne- 
monical rules, I know of none who have taken up 


92 APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES TO 

the subject as a whole. They have shewn the way 
in which genders of nouns might be learned do¬ 
zens at a time; but who would attempt to w r ade 
through a language thus ? 

The rules must be grasped, with all their ex¬ 
ceptions aud counter-exceptions, concentred and 
concentrated, till they become a comprehensive 
whole, or are collected and brought to connected 
points of immediate reference. 

I will shew you in w r hat manner, under the 
figure of a temple (or any other object), I bring 
all the genders of Latin nouns before me. We 
have space for one side only of the temple as re¬ 
presented in PI. hi. Fig. 3. In the hinder part 
of the temple as represented, we have three pillars: 
call the one to the right Masculine, the middle one 
Feminine, the one to the left Neuter. The top 
of each pillar is used for w T ords that have anoma¬ 
lous genitives. The bases of the pillars are used 
for the exceptions in gender of those final letters 
that are found on the pillars. It will be perceived 
that it is easy to recollect counter-exceptions by 
transferring the words, as a collected whole, to one 
of the pillars, as we shall explain, first giving the 
rules for x final, and its formation of the Genitive 
from Adam’s Institutes. 


THE LEARNING OF A LANGUAGE. 


93 


“Rules. —1. Nouns in x are feminine, and in the 
genitive case change x into cis; as. Vox, vocis—the 
voice; Lux, lucis — the light. 

“ 2. Polysyllables in ax and ex are masculine; as, 
Thorax-acis, a breastplate; Corax-acis, a raven, ex 
in the genitive is changed into icis; as, Pollex-icis, m. 
the thumb. 

Counter-exceptions in the formations of the Genitive.— 
(vide Association, Chap, hi., exercises Case ii., No. 1.) 
Masculines added to these.—(Vide No. 2, as above ) 

“ 3. But the following polysyllables in ax and ex are 
feminine. (Vide No. 3, as above.) 

“ 4. A great many nouns in x are either masculine or 
feminine. (Vide No. 4, as above.) 

“ 5. The following Nouns depart from the general rule 
in forming the genitive. (Vide No. 5, as above.) 

I have not space for the varieties of Greek nouns 
in x. These rules and exceptions belong to only 
one final letter. Imagine a boy having to fag for 
years in acquiring such things by repetition only. 
Now, pass with me through the same rules, and 
observe how distinctness is preserved by the se¬ 
veral localities, so that each word can be readily 
referred to. 

1. —Nouns in x are feminine, etc. etc. 

Paiut an x black on the middle marble pillar, and cis on a 
screen behind the pillars or on the pediment. (Vide PI. m.) 

2. —Polysyllables in ax and ex are masculine, etc. etc. 

Paint ax and ex-icis, in black letters, on the first pillar. 
Put the excepted genitives of ex at the top of the first 
pillar in this form :— 

A rvecliler sheep was eating the vine branch that a mower 
of hay had cut off. 


94 APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES TO 


To make the lesson more effectual, draw a sketch of 
the thing, and let the mind pass to the reality. Then 
the mere reading of what I have penned will be enough 
for the pupil. 

At the side of the base of the middle pillar put these 
masculines, connected in a chain of ideas, and repre¬ 
sented by some drawing of the pupil’s. 

Let a wild goat be plucking the offsets of the vine, and a 
cuckoo be examining the cup or bud of a fiower that 
grows by a vault , in which we are to suppose there is a 
Phoenix. 

3. —But the following Nouns in ax and ex are feminine, 

etc. etc. 

These will be associated or chained to the base 
of the first pillar, because they are exceptions to 
ax and ex, which arc on the pillar. 

In a pan (household furniture) , well burnt in & furnace, 
let the herb all-heal be placed, and by it a ladder with 
the herb rope weed and sedge about it. On the ladder 
let there be fixed a pair of scissors , and on this a herring. 

4. —But a great many Nouns in x are either masculine 

or feminine, etc. 

Here I take, if possible, an object that has a ten¬ 
dency to fall both ways, or I lay hold of some other 
circumstance. 

I take a gutter tile, (imbrex, m. or f.) and imagine it to be 
supported on one side by a flint, on the other by a pumice 
stone, and that it contains sorrel of a purple color bound 
with the bark of a tree, upon which crawls a snail that a 
partridge is about to devour, but is prevented by a por¬ 
cupine. Then imagine a Lynx to tread upon the corner 
of the tile and produce a swoln vein upon his heel. (Vide 
base of second pillar.) 

Enough has been said, I think, to shew clearly 
my mode of procedure. All that is here associated 
is absolutely less in amount of words, when cleared 
of whatever is explanatory, than Adam’s rules in 
all their regular yet unassociated order. 


THE LEARNING OF A LANGUAGE. 


95 


It may be said, there is the task of arranging 
and associating; but this is really a little difficulty, 
because every one will find, from the smallest be¬ 
ginnings, his own power encrease by exercise, and 
that his own associations have to him a perfect 
value above the best associations of another. 

CONJUGATIONS. 

I can afford but little space to the Verbs. A con¬ 
centrated Grammar of the Latin Language shall 
appear, if the idea be encouraged, that shall be 
comprised in a small pamphlet, comprehending, 
nevertheless, all the rules of Syntax, Prosody, etc. 
etc. 

An Explanation of the Table, Pl, III. Fig . 1. 

Adopt this symbol X having places: call it 
the exceptor. It is intended to furnish us with 
places for introducing exceptions, that will strike 
the eye in each conjugation. The top place is for 
the first conjugation, the left place for the second, 
the right for the third, the bottom for the fourth. 

The finals for every first person of every tense 
Indicative or Subjunctive is o or m. (Vide PI. nr.) 

The Finals of every person in all the tenses are — 


96 APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES TO 


C 1 Per. o or m 

SIN, < 2.s 

( 3.t 


Cl .mus 

PLU. < 2.tis 

f 3.nt 


Exceptions 
in the Perf. 
Tense only 



1 Perfect. 

2 .sti 

3 .t 

1 .mus 

2 .stis 

3 .erunt 

[not irunt. 


Recollecting these finals, we can use the table 
of the Conjugations, PI. hi. Fig. 1, and acquire 
all the active conjugations, and by a regular but 
small change of letters, all the passives. More 
will be seen by comparison than by explanation. 
We shall give, therefore, some of the tenses. 


PRESENT TENSE. 


AM A—(Amao) Amo—(amaas) amas—(amaat) amat, &c. 
MONE—Moneo—mones—monet—monemus, &c. 

REG—Rego—*(regs) regis—(regt) regit, &c. 

AUDI—Audio—audis—audit, &c. 

On a slight inspection of this tense, it will ap¬ 
pear that to clear amo and rego of their excep¬ 
tions, we must make greater exceptions in the 
other two conjugations. The second a which is 
introduced in ama, is dropped before a vowel. 
Its introduction may at first appear to be a dis¬ 
advantage, but it is only in the present tense, and, 
apart from the analogy which it presents, it makes 
all the other and more difficult tenses to be re¬ 
duced to regularity by its use. In the Fig. PI. in. 
the Indicative is distinguished from the Subjunc- 


* The exceptor in the O of the Present Indicative reminds us of the I 
required in regis. Vide PI. III. 















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THE LEARNING OF A LANGUAGE. 97 

tive by a dotted line through, or a dash between 
the letters. The Indicative is above the line, the 
Subjunctive below; or, the Indicative is on the 
left hand, the Subjunctive on the right. With 
the mere change of a letter , we can turn the whole 
of the actives to passives, thereby concentrating 
eighteen pages of the Eton Latin Grammar, be¬ 
sides making conspicuous those differences which 
boys find out only after a long time and much 
experience, u was originally v in the Latin 
tongue. Hence* to reduce the Verbs as much as 
possible to a common form to the eye, I have put 
v for u in the second conjugation, nevertheless 
preserving the sound of u, and always making eu 
equivalent to u. The verb moneo has then a re¬ 
gular form, probably its ancient one. re go might 
be called a secondary verb, but as it stands, I 
must take it, in order that I may shew the appli¬ 
cation of the principles to difficulties, rego is 
changed, in the perfect, into rexi. Verbs so 
frequently undergo a change of this kind in the 
perfect and supine, that they should always 
be learnt with the meaning of the verb: e. g. In 
learning that curro means I run, we should also 
learn that curro makes cucurri in the perfect, 
and cursum in the supine. The dictionaries and 
Chap. III. will help us in this matter. The 
perfect form is continued in all the tenses that 

H 


98 APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLES TO 


follow it, except the indicative future, i. e. the left 
hand o at the base of the figure. 

It is important to know that all the difficulties 
attending the use of the Perfect rexi, in the tenses 
derived from it, are removed by substituting rex 


for the v that is used in the other conjugations. 
In the case of other verbs of the third conjugation, 
we must in like manner substitute the root of the 
verb in its perfect form for the v that is used in 
the other conjugations, in the tenses derived from 
the perfect. All real difficulties in the way of 
learning the verbs are thus removed: a teacher 
may communicate the whole in an hour; he may 
use the Grammar as he pleases, but he must make 
the figure , PI. in. Fig. 1, with respect to its local¬ 
ities, the object of mental reference with the pupil, 
to produce an abiding effect. 


PRES. TENSE 
SUBJUNC. 


Ama ... E .. M— Amem-(amaes) ames-(amaet)amet,&c. 
Mone. . A.. M—Mones, &c. 

Reg ... A.. M—Regas, Sec. 

Audi .. A.. M—Auuias, &c. 


C Ama } 
IMPERFECT 3 Mone f 
TENSE, IND. j Reg — I - 
(Audi -3 




■ BAv uppe 
, las a 
the i 
VV., 


The characteristic ba' 
of the tense indicative 
is contained in the 
upper part of the m, 
ke subjunctive in 
lower. (Vide PI. 
imp. tense.) 


tM-s-t 

&C.&C. 


* We get these letters from the M in the top of the Fig. PI. m where 
it serves the purpose of the Exceptor, as well as shewing the final.’ Thus 
those letters and differences are made prominent which strike the mind 
only after some experience. At the same time, the characteristic differ¬ 
ences lying between parts that are common to all the tenses, and soon known 
makes the whole easy to be learnt. 

+ The large E in the third places of the Exceptor, indicates that an e is 
to be brought into both Indicative and Subjunctive moods of the third con¬ 
jugation. The small e in the fourth place of the Ex. refers to the use of 
an e in the Indicative only of the fourth conjugation. This is better re¬ 
presented in PI. Ill, Fig. 1. 



TIIE LEARNING OF A LANGUAGE. 


99 


IMP. SUB. -AMA .. RE 


M Final, &c. &c, 


PERF. TENSE 
IND. 




Sti— t — mus, &c. &c, 


C AMA - 
PERF. 1MONE- 
SUBJ. j REX - 


VERI.M Final, &c. &c. 


The remaining tenses may be easily made out 
from the Fig. Pl. hi. ; the infinitives also that are 
between the p and the i; the participles that have 
their place in the p; the supines that have their 
place in the s; the gerunds also that have their 
place in the g. All the present tenses are in a 
line* the perfects in another, the futures in another. 
The s of the supine is made to curl round turum 
esse and turus, that are formed from the supine 
without breaking the line of the futures, etc. etc. 

Much might be said about the advantage of 
presenting to the pupil so extensive a subject un¬ 
der a form that can be taken in at once by the eye: 
the letters , the localities , and the arrangement , all 
aiding the memory. More might be said in ex¬ 
planation of the table; but, if the student study 
it carefully by his Grammar, what I have said will 
suffice. I cannot here enter more into detail. 


% This is the Final M in the imperfect indicative and subjunctive. 
(Vide PI. III. Fig. 1.) In the Passive the only change to be made is the 
turning this m into it, and using the passive finals. 




CHAP. VIII. 

geography. 


In the application of the principles to Geography, 
consider, 

I.—General Geography. 

II.—Particular Geography. 

1. The numberless irregular lines that belong 
to every chart, in the bearings of the coasts and 
of the rivers, and in the boundaries of kingdoms, 
render Geography a very difficult study, though 
in many respects pleasing. 

The recollection of the precise position of places 
can never be expected while the idea of the king¬ 
dom or province in which they are is undefined. 

Every thing to be acquired must be brought 
under some type, the outlines of which are well 
known; then the memory will be treated with 
effectually, because the powers of reason will be 
employed. It should be our object to proceed in 
such a way that what is wanting to the memory 
the judgment will supply. Take the globe, and 
draw a circle round it, and divide it into two he¬ 
mispheres, because only half of the globe can be 
seen at once; then we have a Northern and a 


GEOGRAPHY. 


101 


Southern Hemisphere divided by what is called 
the Equator. The hemisphere is divided across 
into two parts of 90° each. The circle of the 
globe is divided into four quarters of 90° each; 
or, as we shall take it for general Geography, each 
hemisphere is divided into four quarters contain¬ 
ing 9 divisions of 10° each. 

In giving a general and relative view’ of the 
earth, I must give some form to the hemispheres, 
or rather to the globe. We will imagine, for the 
sake of plainness, that each hemisphere is com¬ 
pressed or flattened into a figure of five sides, i, e. 
four sides and the top, each side containing a 
quadrant, or 90°. The sides upwards contain 
only 60°, because the flattened top contains 30° 
to its centre from each of the four sides. If a 
large card be used, and the four sides be brought 
together, it will form a cube without a bottom. 
The sides, however, need not be brought together, 
but placed on a table in the centre of a room, as 
in Fig. 3, Frontispiece; then it resembles the he¬ 
misphere of a globe with four equidistant trian¬ 
gular pieces cut out of it. The sides then answer 
to the four w r alls of the room where we may deli¬ 
neate particular Geography to correspond with 
the side of the figure on the table. That figure 
(call it the Geographicon) may easily contain all 
that we can possibly need of general Geography, 


102 


GEOGRAPHY. 


associated according to the nature of the subject. 
Whatever mode we adopt, the lines of Latitude 
and Longitude cannot be dispensed with. As I 
have arranged them, each 9 lines, or 90°, has its 
own character and locality, and does not form part 
of an unbroken series of 36 lines, or 360°. When 
we have filled the walls of one room with particu¬ 
lar Geography, i. e. Geography more extended and 
detailed, we can take our figure from the table to 
another room, and placing it on the table there, 
in the same relative position, we can make the 
same use of the walls as before, to particularize 
another country with which we desire to become 
familiar. We can easily contrive substitutes for 
the walls of a room, but the principle employed 
must be the same. 

The Geographicon (vide Frontispiece, Fig. 3.) 
has from the East, West, North, and South of it 
nine lines horizontal to the centre, that are meri¬ 
dians of Latitude. We see also from each side 
nine perpendicular lines tending to the centre,— 
these are meridians of Longitude. Each place in 
the five subsquares contains 10 degrees of Lati¬ 
tude and 10° of Longitude. 

The globe of the Schools contains many more 
divisions, that are to be learnt by continued repe¬ 
tition only; hence so few retain that which they 
have learnt. We have now to fix our meridian 


GEOGRAPHY. 


103 


line so as to draw the whole of the Northern He¬ 
misphere on the figure which is placed on the 
table. Use Mercator’s projection, and let the 
meridian of Greenwich be between two sides of 
the figure, i. e. in one of the openings, to corre¬ 
spond with the left-hand farthest corner of the 
room, then the 180th degree of the figure wfill cor¬ 
respond with the nearest right-hand corner of the 
room. 

When the convex figure is ready, with the North¬ 
ern Hemisphere drawn upon it, turn it inside out, 
and the lines, &c. will be on the concave part of 
the figure. It is now to be suspended steadily 
from the ceiling, or placed on the table like an 
umbrella, so as to correspond with the sides of 
each room, as follows :— 

1.—On the first side of the figure, with the 1st 
meridian line corresponding to the 1st meri¬ 
dian line of the room, and the left-hand side of 
the figure to the left-hand w 7 all of the room, 
is England, part of France, Portugal, the 
greater part of Spain, 
and all that part of Africa 
which is included in 
Mungo Park’s first jour¬ 
ney, the Atlantic Ocean, 
and part of America, in¬ 
cluding altogether 90°. 


y 

s 

V 

■T 


M 

t /TTlfb 

2- 

EUR. 

* i 











104 


GEOGRAPHY. 


2. —The second side, corresponding to the oppo¬ 

site wall, includes all places 90° East of Green¬ 
wich, viz. Europe, great part of Africa, and 
Asia as far as Calcutta. 

3. —The third side of the Geographicon, intended 

to correspond with the right-hand wall of the 
room, contains the rest of Asia that belongs 
to the Northern Hemisphere, and great part 
of the Pacific Ocean. 

4. —The fourth side of the figure corresponding 

to the side at the entrance of the room, has 
the Pacific Ocean and the North-Western 
portion of America. 

5. —The fifth side, which corresponds with the 

ceiling, including 30° each way to the centre, 
contains the North of Europe, Asia, America, 
Iceland, etc. etc. 

There is no particular size to be given to the 
Geographicon. If the drawing is allowed to be 
on the convex surface, greater care must be taken 
in transferring to the walls, as the sides will not 
correspond as above. 

Particular Geography . 

Each place of a subsquare of the figure on the 
table contains 10° each way, and is imagined to be 
divided into 4 parts when transferred to the wall. 
(Vide Frontispiece, Fig. 4.) 


GEOGRAPHY. 


105 


We may transfer from the terrestrial Globe, if 
we need only particular Geography. Each of the 
four parts or places just spoken of, we may call 
by some distinctive name, applicable to the coun¬ 
try ; as, the field of grain , the field of thistles , or 
the field of sand , &c. These also we may lightly 
color, as the subject requires. Each field contains 
5° each way. England takes up little more than 
one of these fields when transferred to the wall, or 
a sheet of paper placed on that wall. England, 
Ireland, and Scotland, take up but one of the 
places of a subsquare of the Geographicon, or 10°. 
Any number of fields may be drawn on a wall from 
the corresponding side of the figure, if a very large 
country is to be delineated. The wall, or paper 
on the wall, is intended for an enlarged or more 
minute representation of a country. The use of 
this arrangement must at once be seen, as I bring 
before the eyes of my pupils the same country 
under two aspects—one as part of a collected 
whole, placed in the centre of the room, and learned 
first; the other as enlarged and detailed, for cor¬ 
rect and extensive information. 

In the figure on the table every 10 th degree is 
marked, on the wall every one . This is an origi¬ 
nal mode of treating Geography. In every other 
way I have found pupils at a loss to account for 
the difference which they could perceive between 
the lines of the Globe and of the Maps. 


106 


GEOGRAPHY. 


In my arrangement, I have introduced no lines 
besides those which are used in Geography, and 
which are given to be learnt by other modes, with¬ 
out any assistance of the kind I have afforded.— 
In looking over the fields, each of which contains 
*5° each way, we can generally find some form 
which the countries or provinces in that field take. 
Cheshire resembles a hen sitting on an egg (vide 
Chamber’s School-room Map). Hereford looks 
like a snail with its shell . Sometimes parts of 
provinces will make a figure, and so on. My 
general mode, however, of presenting Geography 
is, to draw the exports, produce, or characteristic 
features, under some form, according to the size 
of the province, and in relation to the towns, &c. 
as points on that form or object , and associated 
with it—to associate physical peculiarities, rivers, 
mountains, &c. &c. with color —to mark social fea¬ 
tures with colors also, under proper distinctions— 
in short, to employ in some way all those faculties 
that we possess in common, though differing in 
degrees of power. 

tThe most circuitous course of a river may be 

* Each field must he considered as forming one of four in 
counting the degrees or places, as they are reckoned 10° upwards 
and 1C° across. (Vide Frontispiece, Fig. 4.) 

+ This occurred to me from the values attached to the direc¬ 
tions of lines in extended Algebra, by which quantities called 
impossible, as — &c. &c. are made possible. 


GEOGRAPHY. 


107 


remembered by assigning to different directions 
of a line a literal value. The directions of any 
lines may be treated in this manner. It would 
be necessary, and at the same time easy, to adopt 
a scale of measurement to secure the full value of 
the principle. So diversified is the application of 
Ideatypics to Geography, that I must leave this 
subject, or furnish examples that our limits will 
not allow. 


CHAP. IX. 


PROSE AND POETRY. 

Dugald Stuart, speaking of the assistance ren¬ 
dered to public speakers by the topical Memory, 
in recollecting the different parts of his discourse, 
considers the accounts given of it by the ancient 
rhetoricians, as abundantly satisfactory, and makes 
the following pertinent observations on the subject: 
“ Suppose (says this author) that I were to fix in 
my memory the different apartments in some very 
large building, and that I had accustomed myself 
to think of these apartments always in the same 
invariable order. Suppose, farther, that in pre¬ 
paring myself for a public discourse , in which I 
had occasion to treat of a great variety of particu¬ 
lars, I was anxious to fix in my memory the order 
I proposed to observe in the communication of my 
ideas. It is evident, that by a proper division of 
my subject into heads, and by connecting each 
head with a particular apartment, (which I could 
easily do, in conceiving myself to be sitting in the 
apartment while I was studying the part of my 
discourse I meant to connect with it,) the habitual 
order in which these apartments occurred to my 


PROSE AND POETRY. 


109 


thoughts, would present to me, in their proper 
arrangement, and without any effort on my part, 
the ideas of which I was to treat. It is also ob¬ 
vious, that a very little practice would enable me 
to avail myself of this contrivance, without any 
embarrassment or distraction of my attention.” 

Mr. Stuart cites an example of a young woman, - 
in a very low rank of life, who contrived a method 
of committing to memory the sermons which she 
was accustomed to hear, by fixing her attention, 
during the different heads of the discourse, on 
different compartments of the roof of the church. 

We may adopt the same plan with advantage, 
or we may arrange a discourse on some imaginary 
form, by the aid of symbols that spring up in our 
mind at the time; as, for Justice, a pair of scales, 
etc. etc. In committing prose to memory, the 
particular chapter should be carefully considered 
once or twice; then, selecting the principal images, 
form a narrative by combining them, and proceed 
gradually with a few lines at a time. 

In committing to memory the frequently minute 
descriptions of poetry, we are aided by images, 
comparisons, allusions, figures, and the personifi¬ 
cation of moral subjects, so that we may take the 
stanza generally as it is, whether of four, six, eight, 
or ten lines, etc. In some kinds of verse it is 
better to take two lines. We must then associate 


110 


PROSE AND POETRY. 


each stanza with its principal image, and assign 
its locality; then, put the first word of every line 
on its object by an imagined transfer, because in 
repeating poetry the first word of a line is most 
difficult to be recalled. By these means, we may 
recite the ivhole poem in regular order—repeat any 
stanza by recollecting the number of its locality— 
determine the numerical position of any word in the 
poem—say how often any particular word occurs 
—or recite the whole of the poem backward. As 
this, however, serves no useful purpose, I shall at 
once give an example of Ideatyping poetry, for 
general application, from John Malcolm’s Stanzas 
on “ The close of the year.” 

“ Surely there is a language in the sky— 

“ A voice that speaketh of a world to come: 

“ It swells from out thy depths. Immensity ! 

“ And tells us this is not our final home. 

“ As the tossed bark amid the ocean’s foam, 

“ Hails, through the gloom, the beacon o’er the wave: 

“ So from life’s troubled sea, o’er which we roam, 

“ The stars, like beacon lights beyond the grave, 

“ Shine through the deep, o’erwhich we hope our barks to save.” 

I propose to consider the matter in a way truly 
Ideatypic*. Reading the stanza carefully, select 
an object for the whole of it—a type , if nothing 

* I mean, of course, in connection with the old proximating 
and locating principle. “ Several small pieces of poetry may 
be readily imprinted on the memory by placing them on the 
pictures or furniture of the wall of a room with which we may 
be acquainted.”—F enaigle, 1812. 


PROSE AND POETRY. 


Ill 


else appears. In this instance, ’personify “ Im¬ 
mensity,” and put him in any place you prefer. 
The idea admits of a figure reaching to the “ sky.” 
We may further suppose him to be writing on it 
the word “surely” in the characters of “language;” 
and then, that he has a “voice” that “speaks,” 
“ swells,” and “ tells.” These three words, in 
their natural order, connected with the personifi¬ 
cation, prompt to the ideas in connection with 
them, and shew us also how the lines commence. 
Pass to the next objects, “bark” and “foam,” and 
place them at the feet of our personification. The 
bark has on its stern the first word of the line “As.” 
Beyond the place we assign for our imaginative 
waves, let there be a “ beacon.” Let “ hails,” the 
first word of the line, be written upon it; then, 
standing by the beacon, let us, in our thoughts, 
look out again upon “ the troubled sea;” and then 
imagine “ we roam” there, our barks having on 
the stern “ So,” the first word of the line. We 
have now stepped from the beacon to the ship, 
and are on the look out for “ the stars, like beacon 
lights beyond.” “ Grave,” and all the rest of the 
words, will be supplied from two or three times 
reading the lines in connection. “Shine,” the 
first word of the last line, is emphatic, and follows 
readily from thinking of the stars. We now turn 
our thoughts again to ourselves, as though we 


112 


PROSE AND POETRY. 


really were on a little “ deep” where we had agreed 
to place it. In such a position, we can at once 
call up the ideas “ Our barks we hope to save.”— 
This process the mind may pursue without being 
able to describe it. It is evident, the passing from 
the text to miniature objects and types, must give 
prominence, as well as order, to the several points. 
Some such process, without name or directions, 
has been unwittingly followed by the majority of 
those whose memory has been most active. I 
have shewn that the reader can pass from abstrac¬ 
tions to things tangible without marring the beauty 
of the lines; and a reflecting mind will perceive 
that most of his permanent associations are formed 
in the same way. Apparently incongruous and 
ridiculous ideas often rise spontaneously in our 
minds, and continue there. This is more the in¬ 
fluence of habit than anything else, and ought to 
be corrected. Hence it is proper to exclude the 
wit and comicality that some introduce in order 
to assist the memory. It seems to me a species 
of trifling, detrimental to education as a discipline 
of mind, and subversive of the requisite sobriety 
of thought. 


CHAP. X. 


CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE KINGS 
OF ENGLAND. 

We have in this table a new mode of associating, 
of great practical utility. The mere names of the 
kings, where there are several, are not generally 
sufficient to bring up any word or phrase in con¬ 
nection, because in almost every case each name 
is one of a class of names, constantly occurring in 
ordinary affairs, or they are words which in them¬ 
selves present nothing to lay hold of. On the 
other hand, a phrase simply is not enough to lead 
us to recollect a king’s name, unless the name be 
typed and brought in with the phrase , or the phrase 
have some connection with a well-known fact in 
that king’s reign. The name, therefore, is first 
given, or a type of the name, whose initial sound 
is like the initial sound of the name. The number 
of consonants in the word shews us the number of 
the king of that name, when there are more than 
one. There are but one or two words to be re¬ 
membered for each date, which prevents that lia¬ 
bility to displace the words, as in phrases where 
only the initial consonant of a word represents a 

i 


114 


CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE 


figure. The date is brought up by the fact—the 
fact by the date—the name by both, because the 
type of the name is generally interwoven with them. 
Thus there is a triple association formed which loca¬ 
lity renders more available. A symbol is taken for 
each royal house, as in PI. II., also p. 117? and the 
several points about it used for locating the kings. 

Of the words in Italics, the first is the name, the others the date. 

WILLIAM 1.1066.. Oppose my aim. 

Harold and William both aimed to possess the throne. 

WILLIAM II...1087. Weep...passer on. 

We can suppose that some “ passer on ” shed a tear for this 
profligate king, conveyed to his burial-place in a cart. 

HENRY 1.1100. In...Bibacious. 

Henry’s son was lost at sea, through the “ bibacious” sailors 
that were “ in ” the ship. 

STEPHEN.1135. Stepping...by battle. 

With Stephen and Matilda, battles were “ stepping” stones 
to thrones. 

HENRY II.1154. End...by appealing. 

Henry’s children “ end ” their disobedience “ by appealing” 
to arms. 

RICHARD 1.1189.. be brave. 

Saracen mothers would exhort their children to “ be brave,” 
like English Richard, or scare their fractious children with the 
terrors of his name. 

JOHN.1199. Jointly...a booby, a wave. 

John was a booby, unstable as water, escaping the waves of 
the Wash only to end his life more pitiably. 

HENRY III.......1216. .Inept...a bag by him . 

Unfit for his station, he pillaged his subjects to lavish wealth 
on worthless minions; hence the bag placed beside him. 

EDWARD 1.1272.. a bygone hoax. 

This refers to the stratagem employed by Edw. I. to reconcile 
the Welsh to the English government. 

EDWARD II.1307. Eddy ...beats on. 

This king, as an “ eddy,” runs counter to the great stream of 
public opinion , and still “ beats on,” till his violent passions 
and weak intellect whirl him into ruin. 























KINGS OF ENGLAND 


115 


EDWARD III.1327. Dread.,.be it gone. 

A sweeping malady filled the kingdoms of Europe with 
“ dread.” 50,000 persons perished by it in London alone. 

RICHARD II. 1377. Rise...pay to none. 

We can easily imagine this to have been said concerning the 
poll tax by those about Wat Tyler, who, with others, led on 
100,000 rebels. 

HENRY IV.1399. *En guard...boat, wave. 

With all the cautiousness of an usurper, Henry was ever in 
the midst of alarms: he was like a “boat” tossed upon the 
troubled “ wave.” 

HENRY V.1413. Encounter...by each path. 

The retreat of Henry was cut off at Agincourt; but, as a con¬ 
queror, he cleared a way home. 

HENRY VI.1422. Encounters ...being quick. 

Great reverses in France are followed by the civil warfare of 
the English. In twelve battles the ambitious Margaret of Anjou 
sustained the fortunes of Henry, her weak-minded but inoffensive 
husband. 

EDWARD IV.... 1461. Education...being my hope. 

We may suppose many hopes were raised in the disastrous 
times of Caxton, when he introduced the printing-press under 
the patronage of the Abbot of Westminster. 

EDWARD V.1483. Delegates ...butchered. 

“ Delegates” deputed by their uncle, (afterwards Rich. III.) 
“ butchered” the two young princes, Edw. V. and his brother. 

RICHARD III.1483. Rigour ...be shared. 

It was meet that this usurper should share the fate of those 
upon whom he had exercised so much “ rigour.” 

HENRY VII.,1485. Indictment...by a churl. 

Einpson and Dudley, two lawyers, were instruments, in the 
frequent attainder of the nobility and others, to gratify the mi¬ 
serly spirit of this king. 

HENRY VIII....1509 ....Entanglement...place away. 

The “ entanglement” and subtilty of religious disputes, we 
would “ place away” from such a bigot, 

EDWARD VI.1547. Declination...pollution. 

It may be that he declined naturally : it may be that the poi¬ 
soned and polluted chalice took him away so early. 

MARY.1553.. apply a light. 

Mary’s love of blazing faggots is an oft-told story, appended 
to all popular tales of horror. 

* Vide page 73. 
























116 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE 


ELIZABETH.1558.. apply lore. 

This Queen was one of the most learned ladies of her time, 
and seems to have applied learning to the advancement of her 
people. 

The mode is now varied, for the sake of exam¬ 
ple. A type of the name may be used; as, for 
james, a chain; for james ii., chains; or an 
extended or explanatory idea in connection with 
the chain. We may also omit 1, for one thousand, 
in every instance, using only the three remaining 
figures. 

JAMES I. (a chain) 1603 (missed). 

In the gunpowder plot, the traitors “ missed” the completion 
of their designs: they could not carry out their “ chain ” of 
schemes. 

CHARLES I. (a charge) 1625 (Macule or macula) 

The final “charge” brought against Charles, is a foul stain 
(macule) on the English annals. 

CHARLES II. (charges) 1660 (may amaze). 

This reign was rife with “charges” of treason — Protestant 
and Catholic plots and perjuries, sufficient to amaze right-think¬ 
ing men. 

JAMES II. (chains) 1685 (a moral). 

This is the “ moral:”—When kings attempt to enchain the 
thoughts as well as the bodies of men, they must expect a po¬ 
pular outbreak, as in 1688. 

WILLIAM III. (JVillows 3) 1687 (mourn). 

Willows typify the dejection of this king when sorrowing 
after his queen, Mary, who died of small-pox. 

ANNE (one) 1702 (nosegay). 

Viewed in a private light, the memory of her virtues is like 
a “ nosegay’s” sweet perfume. 

We may continually vary our mode of proceed¬ 
ing, with perfect security as to the result. Systems 





KINGS OF ENGLAND. 


117 


hitherto propounded may contain right principles, 
yet are applied without reference to their general 
bearing on all the varied peculiarities of different 
minds. 

I consider this System universal in principle , 
capable of a general as well as of an infinitely di¬ 
versified application; yet , like all other systems, 
necessarily inapplicable to the wants of all minds 
by the skill of any one mind . 

HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 

GEORGE.1712. (one page). 

GEORGE.1727. (one gun). 

GEORGE.1760. (one mace). 

We may imagine these names severally written on each ob¬ 
ject in connection. Each object has reference to a fact: “ one 
page,” to the green book of the South-Sea scheme ; “ one gun,” 
to the terrific warfare of the times of Geo. II.; “ one mace,” to 
the magisterial influence required to check revolutionary influ¬ 
ences in the time of Geo. III. 

GEORGE IV. —WILLIAM IV.—VICTORIA. 

thus: — 

20 . 30 . 40—2. 

I want the reader to see that there are various 
original appliances and contrivances, some easier 
to him than others. The following symbols (on a 
larger scale,) for each royal house, and the points 
in them, will serve to locate the phrases or the ob¬ 
jects in connection with each king, according to the 
peculiar character of his own mind. (Vide p. 72.) 

m 
















118 


TABLES, &c. 

The ' natural points, before adverted to, will be 
found to give an extraordinary distinctiveness to 
the recollection of numerical data. We often re¬ 
collect parts of a subject by recollecting the parts 
of the page they occupy. If this be true, (and I 
think no one would dispute it,) the turning of 
figures, which are always difficult to remember, 
into words indicative of an action, an object, or a 
quality, and associating it with a certain point , of 
easy reference, and to which we have a clue, as, 
by mill we think of mile, &c., is indeed valuable. 
I have designated the points natural, because they 
belong to the objects, and do not partake of the 
usual arrangements of other Mnemonists. I have 
also preserved the tables w T ith their several deno¬ 
minations entire. Grey and Lowe reduced their 
tables to one denomination, to render their systems 
available: under such a form, they are of little 
practical utility. 


MEASURE of WEIGHT, in its most extended form. 
This Weight is used in all commercial transactions. 

Ton. Chet. Qr. St. lb. nz. 


Point 1 .. Dr . 
„ 2 .. 02 .. 
„ 3..lb. . 

„ 4. .St. . 

„ 5 . . Qr .. 

„ G. .Crvt, 



.71GS. .3584..256. . lGDr. 

. 44S.. 256.. 16 

28.. 14 














119 


TABLES, ETC. 


MEASURES- ton. cwt. qr. st. lb. oz. dr. 


For which are substituted objects, or types, in their order , 
each having the requisite number of points, on which we may 
paint , draw , or write the objects, or words, as they arise, from 
the letters which are used instead of the figures of the above table. 

OBJECTS- TUN, CAT, QUARTERS, STONE, LAMB, OUNCE. 

The drams have the./?rs£ place in all the objects of this measure. 

The ounces, the second place in all the objects. The rest follow in order. 

We may add the troy grains to the Table thus :-The inside 
of each object is unoccupied , imagine, then, 


TROY GRAINS in 1 TON -15680000 (balmy roses) to be mside the Tun. 

fi7innn S (nourishes), with reference to a 
oiauuu ^ p 0 i n t within iheCat: so of the rest. 

I If there be more than two ciphers 
at the end of several rows of 
figures, you may agree to omit 
> two or three always. 


ff 

1 CWT. 

874000 

l> 

1 QR. 

196000' 

t> 

1 ST. 

98000 j 

)> 

1 LB. 

7000 j 


Particular Weights belonging to this division . 

1.-WOOL WEIGHT. 

cwt. qr. lb. 

1st place. 1-1 (badycJ*Ponnds. .1 St. > = 0 0 14 flr „„ aWool . 
2nd 2 (ox) Stones • • 1 lod _ 0 10 pack, with five 

3rd „ 6.5 (mill) Tods.... 1 Wey = 1 2 14 points, for the 

4th „ 2 (ox) Weys.. .1 Sack= 3 1 0 ^/ e . c * in this 

5th ,, 12 (pack) Sacks...1 Last =39 0 0 ' 

The mere writing of the figures on a board according to the arrangement 
of the points, will suffice if the Table contains no high numbers. 


2.- TROY WEIGHT. 

24 grs.. .1 dwt. ) ( 24 grs. ( cash) .1 dwt. 

20 dwt. . 1 oz. > < 480 „ (hedycrosc) . ..1 oz. 

12 oz. ..11b. )(5760 „ (all in a mass). \ lb. 

Cash is easily associated with pennyweights. 

Iledgerose, the size of an ounce, and sprinkled with yellow /grs. 

All in a mass, as we may suppose the grains to be in a pound. 


* 8 lbs. 1 Stone of Meat. I might use for this the word Rel’aST, simi¬ 
lar in some respects to the method of Grey and Lowe, yet involving im¬ 
portant distinctions: 1. My scale of numbers is extended to all the letters 
of the alphabet, so that words may be chosen with which we are quite 
familiar; these words we use instead of technical ones. 2. The associa¬ 
tion of parts is always to be regarded, as in this instance between repast 
and meat, in which there is a natural connection of ideas; so that in think¬ 
ing of the’owe, we must think of the other, and by this of the third, i.e. the 
figure 8. 



120 


TABLES, ETC. 


MEASURE OF SURFACE. 

AN EXTENDED TABLE. 


Point 1.. Inches 

2. .Feet 

3. .Yards 

4. .Poles 

5. .Roods 

6. .Acres 



Mile (a Mill) 
Acre (a Cur) 
Rood (a Rod) 
Pole (a Pole) 
Yard (a Yard) 
Foot (a Foot) 



Rood. 


Poles. Yards. Feet. 


Mile. Acre. 

Point 1. Inches. .4014,489,600. .6,272,610.. 1,668,160..39204.. 1296.. 144 

2. .Feet... 27,878,400.. 43,560.. 10,890.. 272{. 9 

3. .Yards.. 3,097,600.. 4,840.. 1,210.. 3Cq. 1 

4. .Poles.. 102,400.. 160.. 40.. 1 

5.. Roods.. 2,560.. 4.. 1 

6. .Acres .. 640.. 1 

Make the figures into words and locate them , or the objects they denote, in 
their order, on the several poin ts of the types or symbols. 


In the following useful Table of the cubic 

inches contained in the Measure for Liquids, 

Corn, and Dry Goods, is shewn the various phrases 

that can be made to aid the memory in connection 

with subjects , or words , that have the least tendency 

to produce associations. 

17745,500 = Qr.1. Pay any one gill losses. 

2218,190 s= Bush...2. Quick bear above us. 
fnVno 1 554,548 = Peck . .3 .A lolling lounger. 

"S 277,274 = Gal. . .4. Can anyone quench you. 

Inches. J 69,318 = Qt.5. Move the beer. 

34,659 = Pt.6. I touch my life. 

8,665 = Gill.. .7. I rue my meal. 

We may remember the first phrase in connection with Qr., by the idea 
that the greatest measure (the Qr.) should be made up when there is the 
smallest (the Gill) deficiency. The 2nd, bv the old practice of bearing a 
bush above the door, to indicate the sale of wine. The 3rd, by imagining 
a “ lounger” to be on &peck measure. The 4th refers to the unquencha¬ 
ble thirst of the drunkard, even if he should be supplied with gallons of ale. 
The 5th, to the quart pot, most frequently moved about with beer. The 
6th, to the frequent calls for pints of wine, and its injury to the vital powers. 
The 7th, to that which is frequently the only meal of the drunkard, the 
gill, which he will rue having received. 














TABLES, ETC. 121 


Water 
lbs. Av. 


20 = Peck (case) ) 
80 = Bush, (arose) C 
640 = Qr. (meshes)) 


This and other tables, of what¬ 
ever kind, may be associated 
with ease, according to each 
one’s fancy or skill. 


LATITUDES AND LONGITUDES 

OP 

REMARKABLE PLACES. 


The longitudes from the Royal Observatory at Greenwich. 

The figures will always occur in pairs, except in two 
instances: 1st, when the longitude is above 100; 2nd, 
when the degrees, or minutes, are in any case less than 
10. The few of the first which occur may he recollected 
by the association of color with the name of the town. 
In the second case, whenever the first of a pair is s, or 
any consonant that represents 0, it is of no value. In 
changing the phrases in italics into figures, we mark off 
the first four consonants for Lat. and the first two of 
these four for degrees. 

AT1IENS | ^0 45 ' e* } Tune a lyre quitting me. 

The departed glory of Athens is a theme for the plaintive song 
of the traveller. 

BERLIN | 22 ' e'. } 1 like U e V ui PP ed Q uicJc * 

This refers to the rather deficient industry of the inhabitants, 
and to a coach of a particular form, a Berlin. 

BRUSSELS | 22 ' e! } A loss> al1 P assin 9 Q uick * 

The King of Holland was King of Brussels; but, by a rapid 
political change, this city became the capital of a separate mon¬ 
archy. 

CALCUTTA | l™, ggo 26 ' E.’ } Cock tel1 our hour come ‘ 

To rise at the “ cock crowing” is well understood. The cock 
is said to be indigenous to India. 

CONSTANTINOPLE | 53 ' e.‘ \ Ships back reeled * 

The Dardanelles, called the keys of Constantinople, are four 
castles, two of which were built by Mahommed IV. to protect 
the Turkish fleet from the Venetians. 



122 TABLES, ETC. 


COPENHAGEN ^ p* £ All along by pay getting. 

At the Castle of Elsinore, foreign ships that trade to the Bal¬ 
tic must pay a small toll. 

EDINBURGH | ^ £ Hill, hill, hill or steps. 

This applies to great part of Edinburgh. Arthur’s seat is 810 
feet above the level of the sea. 

GREENWICH ^ Lon 5 qo % £ Ml ha PPy 9° we ' 

Not to its fairs, but to its Park, its trees gathering the moss 
of hoary age, while Time’s great ocean-wave throws up be¬ 
neath them myriads of sporting beings that the next wave draws 
back again to deep obscurity. 

LISBON ^ Lon % w l A thron 9 9 oes an ' a y sorr y- 

Not on account of the savage cruelty of the bull fights, but 
because their miscalled sport is over. 

MADRID ^Lon, *30 % w l A choice class to checJc ’ 

All Spain, as well as Madrid, has its society disorganised, and 
it feels the need of some salutary check. 

MEXICO ^ Lon 990 % W £ By a f oe come °ff avesscl - 

Mexico was deprived of her barbarous glory by Cortez. 

MOSCOW \ l^‘ 3^0 33 " r* \ Al1 ’ al1 shamed indeed. 

Connected in idea with the disastrous retreat of the French 
from Moscow. 

PARIS Churls seek a cause. 

Twice or thrice has Paris been entered by the English tri¬ 
umphantly ; but these are bygone days, and should not lead us 
to dispute. 

4<lo .54/' N ? 

ROME ^ Lon 12° 27" W i Eac ^ P ealin 9 back again . 

Accessions are being made continually to the Church of Rome. 

ST. PETERSBURG \ ^ ^ ^ £ Lowly meads appear. 

Situated in a marsh upon the Neva, it has been much distin¬ 
guished, and is become an imperial residence. 


CONCLUSION. 


I would add a few words, in conclusion, to the 
many examples I have given. Suppose you wish 
to study Botany, Natural History, Chemistry, 
Physiology, Anatomy, or any branch of Natural 
Philosophy, or any thing more abstract, as Logic, 
etc. Your first object should be to select a room 
or a series of localities, or depend on association 
only, if you please. Then read your subject care¬ 
fully, and endeavour to form some ideas of your 
own upon it. After this, select the necessary 
tables or data of the science, and put them into 
some familiar form, or change them into objects, 
or view them under the form of some objects that 
you are pleased to select, or put them on objects 
connected with the subject you are studying, or 
make of them something artificial that shall con¬ 
tain a given portion of a subject, or locate speci¬ 
mens, as in Botany 5 when this is not practicable, 
drav) the specimens and locate them. 

Various modes may be resorted to. In Anato¬ 
my, the muscles and their points of attachment, 
the arteries, veins, &c., have their relative position, 
and only need associating. The various symptoms 
of disease may be associated as easily as the heads 
of a discourse. Locality, Number, and Associa- 


124 


CONCLUSION. 


tion applies to every subject, and in their applica¬ 
tion the ingenuity of the pupil is well exercised. 
Natural Philosophy has some parts or objects 
more 'prominent than others—some differences or 
points of agreement that may be laid hold of— 
something striking or well known, that shall serve 
as a centre point to hundreds of facts that in their 
associated form may be located. General Gram¬ 
mar has its nine places, in which objects can be 
put, and on which can be written, or with which 
can be associated much more than is necessary to 
be known. Logic, with all its forms of reasoning, 
can be associated. He that can use logic, has in¬ 
genuity enough to associate. Chemistry has in 
its affinities typical chains: to its numeral data 
our chapter on Number applies: to the divisions 
of the subject our chapter on Locality applies.— 
Association will provide various forms and con¬ 
nections in the concentration of the matter.— 
Natural History has, in the names of the Orders, 
sufficient points for association, according to 
Case III. and the example given. In short, me¬ 
thods have been detailed, as far as generalizing 
principles will allow in this small treatise. 

Finally, to shew how practice will help any one 
to associate with more or less ease, according to 
his ability, I would mention the case of one of my 
pupils, aged 12, who had to associate the whole of 
the history of Charles I. with the capitals con- 


CONCLUSION. 


125 


tained in the name of the king. In his progress, 
he came to the r in Charles, and with this he 
had to connect the principles of the three parties 
in England as follows : “ The moderate Royalists 
w r ere for reducing the prerogative within proper 
bounds, but for preserving monarchy and episco¬ 
pacy ; the Presbyterians w r ere for preserving mon¬ 
archy, but abolishing episcopacy; and the Inde¬ 
pendents were for abolishing both monarchy and 
episcopacy, and establishing a republic.” The r 
contains three parts, said he,—the upright , the 
circular , and the tail piece; the last taken away 
leaves a p; the last two taken away leaves an i. 
The Royalists will have the r complete, but smaller. 
The Presbyterians will have only the p (their name 
directs us as to what they would exclude). The 
Independents will have only the i, and dispense 
with the other two parts. The letters r, p, i, are 
the initial letters of the three bodies, and thtis lead 
us from a point as it were to all the matter in con¬ 
nection. Nothing like this could have been done 
without the application of the pupil. He that 
expects to know any subject from merely reading 
or studying this book, has made a great mistake 
as to its nature; and he that imagines difficulties 
are noiv to be surmounted without his own appli¬ 
cation, had better go and learn a few lessons of 
nature and her operations, in connection with all 
that man has power to achieve. 


APPENDIX. 

A. 


The Bardic Traditions, moulded into the regular form of Triads, 
and annually recited in public by the ancient Britons, shew the 
early application of the Ideatypic principle. The following 
example of a preceptive Triad will shew the manner in which a 
visible object was united to a well known duty or practice, and 
connected with a moral maxim , which thus was fixed more 
firmly in the memory. The translation of a Triad is given here, 

’Mid the snow, green plants arise ; 

All are bound by Nature’s ties: 

Anger dwells not with the wise. 


APPENDIX. B. 

There are those who can hardly bring their minds to localize 
systematically , i. e. to put anything to be remembered in any 
given place ; and yet every day’s business is similarly managed, 
though without method. This is through deficient education. 
There are those also who have not the faculty of localizing in 
any great degree. For these I have a room very simple in its 
divisions ; so that while the division into 100 places is suited to 
the student, the division into 50 is suited to the every-day re¬ 
quirements and wants of ordinary men. 

The lines represented in the wood- 
cut are to be regarded in practice as 
imaginary , not real, and as furnish¬ 
ing ns with 50 places. We begin 
at the floor, instead of the roof, for 
places 1 to 9. The left-hand, or 
first wall , has places 11 and up¬ 
wards, including 19. The second 
or front wall has places 21 to 29 in¬ 
clusive. The third or right-hand 
wall has places 31 to 39 inclusive. 

The fourth * wall with the door, 
the position of the spectator, has 
places 41 to 49 inclusive. The ceiling, as shewn in the wood- 
cut, has the 50th place in the centre, and its four comers only 
unoccupied. 

If we need a second room, it is divided in precisely the same 
way. For, if we wish to reckon places 50 to 100, the place in 
the second room is shewn from the first, by adding 50 to it; 
c. g. the place which is 31 in the first room, is 31 + 50 = 81st 

* The fourth wall could not be represented in the wood-cut. 






















127 


m the second. Again, the 44th place in the first room is 44+50 
=94th in the second. This arrangement may be soon learnt and 
applied in connection with other parts of the system. The sim¬ 
plest division to which we can arrive, is the floor divided into 9 
places, the seat of the units. We have in this also the law of 
the series , and we are able at once to determine the relative 
place of every figure, more especially in my division of one room 
into 100 places. There can be no difficulty in determining the 
situation of any figure, as theses are uniformly in the centre 
— the threes always occupy one corner —so also every other 
figure occupies its relative place. 

Students should often ask themselves questions similar to this, 
as an exercise: On what wall, &c. shall I find such a number? 


APPENDIX. C. 

In constructing a scale of numbers, many important considera¬ 
tions were to be attended to. Among others, to join efficient 
with inefficient letters — those that are more frequently found 
with those that are less common, l, m, n, n, are letters of great 
power, and severally represent 5, 6, 7, 8. Other letters of less 
power, or of a different character, are placed in groups, classified 
principally with a view to ready and extensive combination, in 
accordance with certain philological laws. Certain combina¬ 
tions of articulate sounds are incapable of being pronounced; 
hence a rule arises, that “ Two (or more) mutes of different de¬ 
grees of sharpness and flatness, are incapable of coming together 
in the same syllable.”— Latham. Without attention to this, 
then, there might have been a very unequal distribution of the 
numeral representatives, instead of my present very extended 
means of operation in making words and phrases. 

We have therefore put p and v together, as much also for the 
ease with which these similar sounds may be remembered, or 
changed the one for the other. But ph and f are identical in 
many words, to the ear, though not to the eye. ch and f are 
often identical. Hence, to a certain extent, the reason of the 
groupings in the scale, page 77 . Fig. 3, Pi. II. is very easy to 
learn, and may be used as less extended than the scale, but it 
is much less efficient. A further view of the relationship of let¬ 
ters is presented here. 

(Hard) Sharp — p- t-k -s- f 

(Soft) Flat — n- d - g -z-v, &c. 

k and g were better placed apart, on account of sound. In 
evolving what is currently called Grimm’s law. Comparative 
Etymology presents us with the frequent interchange of similarly 
enunciated letters. I have, therefore, while attending to other 
considerations, attempted to j oin those consonants together which 
are most nearly related, as t, d, th. 





128 


I will now give some help to the recollection of the extended 
scale, p.77. Take nine symbols, each made out of a letter or two 
which belong to the place designed for the symbol , and with each 
symbol associate the objects or words that belong to its own 
place, thus :— _ 



HOPE 

OAK 

IDA 

s 

AGE 

LEO 

EMU 


INO 

ROE 

YEW 


0. S, the initial letter of serpent, may be the symbol, or a ser¬ 
pent that hisses , aud enunciates the sounds c, s, z, and 
sc as s. 

1. Near the symbol Hope (p)* imagine a bee (b) flying. 

2. Near the symbol Oak (k) imagine an axe (x) and cask (c 

and sk), and carve Quick (q and ck ) cii and cn hard, 
on the Oak. 

3. Imagine yourself to be at (t) the (th) mount IDA (d). 

4. Near the symbol of age (g) personified , let there be a Jay, 

uttering ti, si, zi, pronounced as sh. On the foot of age 
there might be a shoe (sh), and written on this tu and su, 
pronounced as shu. 

5. The symbol Leo, or Lion, (l). 

6. The symbol Emu (m) a birci. 

7. The symbol I no (n), a female in ancient mythology, 

8. The symbol Hoe (r). 

9. The symbol Yew (w) may have attached to it Ivy (v) that 

a Foe (f) tries to pull down. We might further imagine 
ph and gh, pronounced as f, to be chalked on the back 
of the foe. 

These nine symbols will be very serviceable as points of at¬ 
tachment in connection with these numbers, when we wish to 
use them. We might extend symbols to all the places of a 
room, by taking something as a symbol that the figures of each 
place would furnish. If our symbols were all things that we 
could suppose animated, they would be preferable; mythological 
characters, for instance, or such personifications as Wisdom, 
Justice, Peace, &c. In short, available modes may be greatly 
multiplied. It is left to the ingenuity of the learner to carry one 
out for himself. 

* The letters in parentheses are the letters of the numeral scale, p. 77, 
for which the words preceding them are placed. 

FINIS. 


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